A Quantitative Study by Radar and Telescope of the Vernal Migration of Birds in Coastal Louisiana
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1968 A Quantitative Study by Radar and Telescope of the Vernal Migration of Birds in Coastal Louisiana. Sidney Anthony Gauthreaux Jr Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Gauthreaux, Sidney Anthony Jr, "A Quantitative Study by Radar and Telescope of the Vernal Migration of Birds in Coastal Louisiana." (1968). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 1487. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/1487 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 69-4470 GAUTHREAUX, Jr., Sidney Anthony, 1940- ° A QUANTITATIVE STUDY BY RADAR AND TELESCOPE OF THE VERNAL MIGRATION OF BIRDS IN COASTAL LOUISIANA. Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1968 Zoology University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A QUANTITATIVE STUDY BY RADAR AND TELESCOPE OF THE VERNAL MIGRATION OF BIRDS IN COASTAL LOUISIANA A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Zoology and Physiology by Sidney Anthony Gauthreaux, Jr<> B.S., Louisiana State University in New Orleans, 1963 M.S., Louisiana State University, 1965 August, 1968 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was supported in part by a grant from the Louisiana Ornithological Society. To the membership of the Society 1 express my gratitude. The radar data upon which so much of this study depends could not have been obtained without the generous assistance of the following United States Weather Bureau personnel: Claude Allen, Dale Black, Bruce Howard, Ken McGrew, Carl Phipps, and Joseph Worrell, all of the Lake Charles station, and Harold Monroe, Stephen Lichtblau, Donald Oker, Frank Reisor, Charles Ridge, and Walter Schultz, of the New Orleans station. Angelo W. Palmisano helped me in the field during the formative stages of the study, and James J. Hebrard assisted me with the analysis of the data. George J. Cazenavette, Jr., gave me valuable assistance in the preparation of the illustrations. I wish to extend my appreciation to Dr. Robert J. Newman, who assisted me in the preparation of the manuscript, and to Dr. George H. Lowery, Jr., who supervised my research. Drs. Albert H. Meier, H. Bruce Boudreaux, Walter J. Harman, and J. Harvey Roberts also read the manuscript. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE TITLE P A G E ......... i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i i TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES ..... v LIST OF FIGURES ................... vi ABSTRACT ... .....OO. .......... 00a00.8u..0«0.0a.a0.0.os0.0.0. .00.0.0 iX INTRODUCTION ........ I EQUIPMENT AND METHODS ........ 3 Period of Study ..... 3 Equipment ....... 3 Methods .... 10 QUANTIFICATION OF BIRD MIGRATION BY RADAR ........................ 17 Historical Review and Critique of Previous Radar Studies ...... 17 Quantification of Nocturnal Migration ......................... 25 Quantification of Diurnal Migration ........................... 36 THE SEASONAL AND 24-HOUR PERIODICITY OF VERNAL MIGRATION ON AND NEAR THE LOUISIANA GULF COAST .......... 48 Seasonal Timing of the Migration ....... 48 24-hour Timing of the Migration ...... 56 THE DIRECTION, SPEED, AND ALTITUDE OF THE VERNAL MIGRATION ON THE NORTHERN GULF COAST ..................... 88 Gulf Wind Patterns and Isobar Orientation ...............o..... 90 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Correlation Between Wind Direction and Flight Direction ............ 96 Flight Speed and Correction for Drift .... ............... 101 Flight Direction ..... 116 Altitude of Migration ............. 132 Reverse Migration and Migration over Cold Fronts................. 144 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ....... 150 LITERATURE C I T E D ............. 153 VITA .......... 158 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Multiplicative Factors for Each Attenuation Level .<..*.0...... 32 2. Daytime Flock Sizes as Determined by Attenuation ............ 43 3. Location of Cold Fronts from 8 April to 15 May (0000 CST) «... 54 4. Starting Times (CST) for Nocturnal Migration, Spring 1966, New Orleans, La. ....... 74 5. Starting Times (CST) for Nocturnal Migration, Spring 1967, Lake Charles, La. ............ 75 6. Rawinsonde Data - 1965 (Average Monthly Values) ..... 93 7. Rawinsonde Data - 1966 (Average Monthly Values) .............. 94 8. Rawinsonde Data - 1967 (Average Monthly Values) ......c.o... 95 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Map of radar surveillance area, Lake Charles station........ 5 2. Map of radar surveillance area, New Orleans station .......... 7 3. Radar density patterns for diurnal and nocturnal bird migration ..... .................................. 14 4. Radar photographs of nocturnal migration........ ............ 28 5. Graph of the attenuation-traffic rate relationship for nocturnal migration ....... 34 6. Radar photographs of daytime migration ....... 39 7. Maps for the region of the Gulf of Mexico showing frontal systems and isobar orientation ................. 52 8. Radar photographs taken at the New Orleans station on 23 April 1967 .......... 59 9. Radar photographs taken at the New Orleans station On 23 Apri1 196 7 ..ee....ogao 0 .co.o..ft.aoo»o.fitt.aeoeo... 61 10. Daily temporal pattern of migration at New Orleans during the spring of 1967 .o.o..o.e99.o0«ooo....oo.»eo.o 63 11. Daily temporal patterns of spring migration .................. 65 12. Daily temporal pattern of spring migration on 25 April 1967 at New Orleans, Louisiana....... 68 13. Daily temporal patterns of spring migration .................. 70 14. Radar photographs taken at the New Orleans station on 22 April 1967 ........ 78 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. FIGURE PAGE 15. Wind direction and speeds (three-year average) at 16 stations around the periphery of the Gulf of Mexico from 1965 to 1967 ......... ................ ............ 92 16. Correlation between wind direction and flight direction ..... 98 17. Correlation between wind direction and flight direction ..... 100 18. Scatter diagram showing regression line and correlation between bird ground speed and wind speed when wind is a tail wind .... 104 19. Scatter diagram showing regression line and correlation between bird ground speed and wind speed when bird’s track deviates 20°-30° from the wind direction ......... 106 20. Scatter diagram showing regression line and correlation between bird ground speed and wind speed when bird’s track deviates 40°-50° from the wind direction ....... 108 21. Scatter diagram showing regression line and correlation between bird ground speed and wind speed when bird's track deviates 60°-70° from the wind direction ......... 110 22. Scatter diagram showing regression line and correlation between bird ground speed and wind speed when bird’s track deviates 80°-90° from the wind direction ......... 112 23. Summary of flight directions on radar during the spring of 1965 at Lake Charles, La. ..................eaeeotto.e 119 24. Summary of flight directions on radar during the spring of 1966 at Lake Charles, La. ..... 121 25. Summary of flight directions on radar during the spring of 1966 at New Orleans, La. ..... 123 vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. FIGURE PAGE 26. Summary of flight directions on radar during the spring of 1967 at New Orleans, La............................. 125 27. Summary of flight directions on radar during the spring of 1967 at Lake Charles, La......... .................. 127 28. Summary of flight directions as seen through the telescope at Lake Charles, La., during the spring of 1965 ....... 129 29. Summary of flight directions as seen through the telescope at New Orleans, La., during the spring of 1967 ........ 131 30. Summary of radar track directions at Lake Charles for three different altitudinal strata ...... 135 31. Summary of radar track directions at New Orleans for two different altitudinal strata ...... 137 32. Altitudinal distribution of daytime migrants ................ 140 33. Altitudinal distribution of nocturnal migrants .............. 143 viii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT During the spring migrations of 1965, 1966, and 1967, 1100 hours of simultaneous WSR-57 radar and telescopic observations of migration were made at the Lake Charles and New Orleans