Tracking Bird Migration (broadcast Friday, October 9th, 2009)

http://media.libsyn.com/media/sciencefriday/banding-100909.flv&height=255&image=video/videoicon/birdband1.jpg&callback=http://www.sciencefriday.com/test/vidstats.php&id=10246&width=320&frontcolor=0xffffff&backcolor=0xeeeecc&lightcolor=0xFFFFFF&showicons=false&showdigits=false&autostart=false&usefullscreen=true" height="255" width="320"> David Bonter, of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and vice president of the Braddock Bay Bird Observatory, took us to Braddock Bay to learn how to band birds. Watch Bonter put a tiny aluminum bracelet on a swamp sparrow. (Credits: Produced by Flora Lichtman) See More Videos

The weather's getting chilly, and birds up north are embarking on their yearly trek down to warmer climes. Geese head south for the winter, and each spring the swallows return to Capistrano - but how? Some species of birds undertake multi-thousand mile journeys, stopping off at key locations along their routes. In this hour, we'll talk about how birds make their migratory journeys, and how scientists are trying to study their travels. We'll take a look at how some birds use magnetic fields as flight maps, and how scientists track their routes -- with radar, sound, heat sensing, and even telescopes aimed at the moon. We're broadcasting from Ithaca, New York this week, as the guests of WEOS. Tune in!

Guests

David Bonter
Ornithologist, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Vice President, Braddock Bay Bird Observatory
Leader, Project FeederWatch
Ithaca, New York

Mark Deutschlander
President, Braddock Bay Bird Observatory
Associate Professor and Chair
Biology Department
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Geneva, New York

Sidney Gauthreaux
Professor Emeritus
Department of Biological Sciences
Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina

Andrew Farnsworth
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Ithaca, New York

Related Links

• Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Migration of Birds
• Zoological Society of Milwaukee:Bird Migration Facts
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Nocturnal Migrant Flight Call Research
• Wired Science: Help Science: Build Your Own Bird Tracker, Cheap
• NPR: Cornell Program Helps Public Count the Birds
• Bird Radar images
• Project Feederwatch
• Audubon Birds and Science

Segment produced by:Christopher Intagliata

Image: Migrating Sandhill Cranes at Sunrise.

Image: David Bonter removes a bird from a net at the Braddock Bay Bird Observatory.

Image: Scientists banding birds at the Braddock Bay Bird Observatory.

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