A Quantitative Study of the Nocturnal Migration of BirdsLowery, George H., Jr.
Science
A Quantitative Study of the Nocturnal Migration of Birds
Lowery, George H., Jr.
Birds -- Migration
The approach employed has been to plot on maps sector vectors and
vector resultants that express the directional trends of migration in
the eastern United States and the Gulf region, and to compare the data
on these maps with data supplied by the U. S. Weather Bureau regarding
the directions and velocities of the winds, the location of high and
low pressure areas, the movement of cold and warm fronts, and the
disposition of isobars or lines of equal pressure. It should be borne
in mind when interpreting these vectors that they are intended to
represent the directions of flight only at the proximal ends, or
junction points, of the arrows. The tendency of the eye to follow a
vector to its distal extremity should not be allowed to create the
misapprehension that the actual flight is supposed to have continued
on in a straight line to the map location occupied by the arrowhead.
A fundamental difficulty in the pressure-pattern theory of migration
has no doubt already suggested itself to the reader. The difficulty to
which I refer is made clear by asking two questions. How can the birds
ever get where they are going if they are dependent upon the whim of
the winds? How can pressure-pattern flying be reconciled with the
precision birds are supposed to show in returning year after year to
the same nesting area? The answer is, in part, that, if the wind is a
major controlling influence on the routes birds follow, there must be
a rather stable pattern of air currents prevailing from year to year.
Such a situation does in fact exist. There are maps showing wind roses
at 750 and 1,500 meters above mean sea level during April and May
(Stevens, 1933, figs. 13-14, 17-18). Similarly, the "Airway
Meteorological Atlas for the United States" (Anonymous, 1941) gives
surface wind roses for April (Chart 6) and upper wind roses at 500 and
1,000 meters above mean sea level for the combined months of March,
April, and May (Charts 81 and 82). The same publication shows wind
resultants at 500 and 1,000 meters above mean sea level (Charts 108
and 109). Further information permitting a description in general
terms of conditions prevailing in April and May is found in the
"Monthly Weather Review" covering these months (_cf._ Anonymous,
1948 _a_, Charts 6 and 8; 1948 _b_, Charts 6 and 8).
[Illustration: FIG. 38. Over-all sector vectors at major
stations in the spring 1948. See text for explanation of
system used in determining the length of vectors. For
identification of stations, see Figure 34.]
[Illustration: FIG. 39. Over-all net trend of flight
directions at stations shown in Figure 38. The arrows
indicate direction only and their slants were obtained by
vector analysis of the over-all sector densities.]
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