Kyle Horton

Thanks Bart, glad to hear it. Simple indeed! Looking forward to seeing you all at IRAC next year.

Check out the video below ⬇️ and then read the #OpenAccess study in our journal "Ecology"!
doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

Thanks Ben!

Thanks! Appreciate the kind words, Tim.

That's our hope. We estimated peak activity times and flight heights for all the radar locations - they're provided in the supplemental data. We output the values using a few different approaches to allow for different conservation decisions and policies.

Take three minutes to look at pretty birds, explore radar data, and see how we connect the structure of skies to MacArthur's ideas of niche partitioning. 📡🐦☁️🎧

We churned through over 100 million radar samples to quantify the structure of migration through the airspaces across the United States: Just out in Ecology esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Pairing weather radars with eBird data for large-scale monitoring of swallow and martin communal roosts | doi.org/10.1093/orni... | Ornithological Applications | #ornithology 🪶

Using automated acoustic monitoring, citizen science, and centuries of ornithological research and understanding to quantify ecological integrity at scale.

The BirdsPlus Index, a novel method for assessing site-level conservation values.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Interested in how animals use the sky? 🌌

I’m recruiting a PhD student (Fall 2026, Purdue University) to study Purple Martin flight behavior and airspace use using barometric transmitters.

Details ➡️ jobs.rwfm.tamu.edu/view-job/?id...
#Aeroecology #AvianEcology

Another massive movement of migratory birds underway tonight — nearly 1 Billion Birds! With the full moon, you might be able to see some silhouettes zipping by. You can make your own flow maps here (just hit record): aeroecolab.com/uslights

I don’t recall for that night, but you can see densities here: aeroecolab.com/uslights. You can hover on any of the radar sites and it’ll show traffic rates, speed, direction, and flight heights.

Truly impressive number of birds migrating tonight. More than 800 MILLION birds up in the air right now❗ #BirdMigration

7-Day Bird Migration Forecast

We’re entering the peak of fall migration across most of the U.S. Hundreds of millions of birds are on the move, with Thursday and Friday forecast to be the biggest nights of the season so far — over 400 million birds predicted to be taking flight.

Looks like this was caused by the passing weather system. While we try to filter to just birds, it’s not always perfect.

Lots and lots and lots of birds taking off tonight. Here's what things look like detected by the Milwaukee radar (KMKX): Night of September 3, 2025.

Migration is roaring across the Midwest tonight! Check out the real-time flow visualization to watch it unfold: aeroecolab.com/uslights

Tonight’s forecast: 304 million birds expected to migrate across the U.S. 🕊️📡
The Upper Midwest is especially active – keep an eye on the skies and consider going “Lights Out” to help reduce risks for nocturnal migrants.
#BirdMigration #LightsOut #Midwest

Night of August 25, 2025 Chicago Rockford Aurora 10.1 M birds flying over Illinois Birds forecast over city area 29.8 K Chicago 10.5 K Rockford 6.3 K Aurora Lights out alert level None Low Med High

aeroecolab.com/illinois
turn off non-essential outdoor lighting from 11 pm–6 am & close shades to reduce skyglow for migrating birds

Combining weather radar data with environmental data, @birgenhaest.bsky.social and co-authors found that peak roosting phenology of migrating martins and swallows in the Great Lakes region is paced by both local and distant conditions. Read more on doi.org/10.1111/geb....

📡 Why do Martins and Swallows pass by the Great Lakes when they do - Great collaboration with Yuting Deng and @kyle-horton.bsky.social. @biodiversa.eu 📡

Just over two weeks left to apply

1. Did you know that the Corn Belt in the Midwest USA is so vast you can see it from space? 🌽 How would this affect billions of migrating songbirds passing through each year? 🐦 Check out our new study in @conbiology.bsky.social
to find out! 🧵1/8 conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

What to learn more? #BirdMigration #Conservation
Check out our full study in @conbiology.bsky.social
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/RCKH33...
Or read this great article by Kathi Borgmann summarizing these findings: news.cornell.edu/stories/2025....
@cornellbirds.bsky.social

Grateful to collaborate with an amazing team on this work. @jbuler.bsky.social, Adriaan Dokter, @kyle-horton.bsky.social, @emlbcohen.bsky.social, Dan Sheldon, Jaclyn Smolinsky, and David Wilcove.

Lights Out alert map for the U.S. showing almost all the states in some level of needing lights out for birds.

Lots of Lights Out alerts tonight as we come into the mad rush that is Maygration.
#birds #spring #migration #LightsOutForBirds

The birds won’t disappoint!

Spring is for the grouse and chickens! Colorado leks have been 🔥🔥🔥 (w/@carburt.bsky.social). Greater Sage-Grouse and Greater Prairie-Chickens 📷

Birds will be arriving soon! This map shows peak migration dates across the US modeled using radar data. Keep in mind, the dates represent peaks, but migration usually plays out across a couple of weeks, so estimate ± 1 week on either side of the dates on the map for max migration activity.

Ornithology: Night flight communication across species boundaries | www.cell.com/current... | @currentbiology.bsky.social | #ornithology 🪶