Hans van Gasteren

A comparative analysis of the influence of weather on the flight altitudes of birds

Abstract Birds pose a serious risk to flight safety worldwide. A Bird Avoidance Model (BAM) is being developed in the Netherlands to reduce the risk of bird–aircraft collisions. In order to develop a temporally and spatially dynamic model of bird densities, data are needed on the flight-altitude distribution of birds and how this is influenced by weather. This study focuses on the dynamics of flight altitudes of several species of birds during local flights over land in relation to meteorological conditions. We measured flight altitudes of several species in the southeastern Netherlands using tracking radar during spring and summer 2000. Representatives of different flight strategy groups included four species: a soaring species (buzzard Buteo buteo), an obligatory aerial forager (swift Apus apus), a flapping and gliding species (blackheaded gull Larus ridibundus), and a flapping species (starling Sturnus vulgaris). Maximum flight altitudes varied among species, during the day and among days. Weather sign...

Continental-scale radar monitoring of the aerial movements of animals

Billions of organisms travel through the air, influencing population dynamics, community interactions, ecosystem services and our lives in many different ways. Yet monitoring these movements are technically very challenging. During the last few decades, radars have increasingly been used to study the aerial movements of birds, bats and insects, yet research efforts have often been local and uncoordinated between research groups. However, a network of operational weather radars is continuously recording atmospheric conditions all over Europe and these hold enormous potential for coordinated, continental-scale studies of the aerial movements of animals.The European Network for the Radar surveillance of Animal Movement (ENRAM) is a new e-COST research network aiming exactly at exploring this potential. The main objective of ENRAM is to merge expertise to utilize weather radars to monitor the aerial movement of animals across Europe for a broad range of stakeholders at an unprecedented scale and enable researchers to study the causes and consequences of movement. In this paper we describe the aims of ENRAM in more detail and the challenges researchers will address, provide an overview of aero-ecological studies using radar, and present some of the opportunities that a large sensor network can provide for movement ecology research.

Quality Assessment of Weather Radar Wind Profiles during Bird Migration

Wind profiles from an operational C-band Doppler radar have been combined with data from a bird tracking radar to assess the wind profile quality during bird migration. The weather radar wind profiles (WRWPs) are retrieved using the well-known volume velocity processing (VVP) technique. The X-band bird radar performed range–height scans perpendicular to the main migration direction and bird densities were deduced by counting and normalizing the observed echoes. It is found that the radial velocity standard deviation (r) obtained from the VVP retrieval is a skillful indicator of bird migration. Using a threshold of 2ms 1 on r, more than 93% of the bird-contaminated wind vectors are rejected while over 70% of the true wind vectors are accepted correctly. For high bird migration densities the raw weather radar wind vectors have a positive speed bias of 8.6 3.8 m s 1 , while the quality-controlled wind vectors have a negligible speed bias. From the performance statistics against a limited area numerical weather prediction model, it is concluded that all (significant) bird contamination is removed and that high-quality weather radar wind profiles can be obtained, even during the bird migration season.

Twilight ascents by common swifts, Apus apus, at dawn and dusk: acquisition of orientation cues?

Common swifts are specialist flyers spending most of their life aloft, including night-time periods when this species roosts on the wing. Nocturnal roosting is preceded by a vertical ascent in twilight conditions towards altitudes of up to 2.5 km, behaviour previously explained as flight altitude selection for sleeping. We examined the nocturnal flight behaviour of swifts, as uniquely identified by a Doppler weather radar in central Netherlands using continuous measurements during two consecutive breeding seasons. Common swifts performed twilight ascents not only at dusk but also at dawn, which casts new light on the purpose of these ascents. Dusk and dawn ascents were mirror images of each other when timereferenced to the moment of sunset and sunrise, suggesting that the acquisition of twilight-specific light-based cues plays an important role in the progression of the ascents. Ascent height was well explained by the altitude of the 280 K isotherm, and was not significantly related to wind, cloud base height, humidity or the presence of nocturnal insects. We hypothesize that swifts profile the state of the atmospheric boundary layer during twilight ascents and/or attempt to maximize their perceptual range for visual access to distant horizontal landmarks, including surrounding weather. We compare twilight profiling by swifts with vertical twilight movements observed in other taxa, proposed to be related to orientation and navigation.

Birds flee en mass from New Year’s Eve fireworks

Anthropogenic disturbances of wildlife, such as noise, human presence, hunting activity, and motor vehicles, are becoming an increasing concern in conservation biology. Fireworks are an important part of celebrations worldwide, and although humans often find fireworks spectacular, fireworks are probably perceived quite differently by wild animals. Behavioral responses to fireworks are difficult to study at night, and little is known about the negative effects fireworks may have on wildlife. Every year, thousands of tons of fireworks are lit by civilians on New Year’s Eve in the Netherlands. Using an operational weather radar, we quantified the reaction of birds to fireworks in 3 consecutive years. Thousands of birds took flight shortly after midnight, with high aerial movements lasting at least 45 min and peak densities measured at 500 m altitude. The highest densities were observed over grasslands and wetlands, including nature conservation sites, where thousands of waterfowl rest and feed. The Netherlands is the most important winter staging area for several species of waterfowl in Europe. We estimate that hundreds of thousands of birds in the Netherlands take flight due to fireworks. The spatial and temporal extent of disturbance is substantial, and potential consequences are discussed. Weather radar provides a unique opportunity to study the reaction of birds to fireworks, which has otherwise remained elusive.

Innovative Visualizations Shed Light on Avian Nocturnal Migration.

Globally, billions of flying animals undergo seasonal migrations, many of which occur at night. The temporal and spatial scales at which migrations occur and our inability to directly observe these nocturnal movements makes monitoring and characterizing this critical period in migratory animals’ life cycles difficult. Remote sensing, therefore, has played an important role in our understanding of large-scale nocturnal bird migrations. Weather surveillance radar networks in Europe and North America have great potential for long-term low-cost monitoring of bird migration at scales that have previously been impossible to achieve. Such long-term monitoring, however, poses a number of challenges for the ornithological and ecological communities: how does one take advantage of this vast data resource, integrate information across multiple sensors and large spatial and temporal scales, and visually represent the data for interpretation and dissemination, considering the dynamic nature of migration? We assembled an interdisciplinary team of ecologists, meteorologists, computer scientists, and graphic designers to develop two different flow visualizations, which are interactive and open source, in order to create novel representations of broad-front nocturnal bird migration to address a primary impediment to long-term, large-scale nocturnal migration monitoring. We have applied these visualization techniques to mass bird migration events recorded by two different weather surveillance radar networks covering regions in Europe and North America. These applications show the flexibility and portability of such an approach. The visualizations provide an intuitive representation of the scale and dynamics of these complex systems, are easily accessible for a broad interest group, and are biologically insightful. Additionally, they facilitate fundamental ecological research, conservation, mitigation of human–wildlife conflicts, improvement of meteorological products, and public outreach, education, and engagement.

Sharing the aerosphere: conflicts and potential solutions

As our use of the aerosphere is increasing, so too are the conflicts that arise between our activities and those of aerial wildlife. As a result, numerous stakeholders are interested in monitoring, modelling and forecasting the aerial movements of animals in the context of anthropogenic impacts. Birds can pose a serious threat to aviation, resulting in delays, damage to aircraft, lost flight hours and even the loss of lives. Military and civil aviation use a range of measures to monitor the movements of birds and to try and reduce the risk of wildlife strikes. Increasingly, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are sharing an already crowded airspace, although just how problematic this may become remains to be seen. The wind energy industry, another important stakeholder, may pose serious threats for aerial wildlife, due to collisions with turbines, or the extra energetic costs and risks entailed with avoiding wind farms. Similarly, other tall structures pose a threat for aerial wildlife. In this chapter, we describe the nature of these different conflicts and provide an overview of the factors that influence the risk associated with aerial movement. We also describe how movement is being studied to provide essential information for these different stakeholders and discuss several of the solutions that have been implemented to reduce potential conflicts. We conclude by discussing future perspectives for reducing conflicts by integrating different technologies for studying aerial movement, diverse approaches for modelling movement and working across international borders.