Western NY Nocturnal Bird Migration Study

A Bird Migration Study in the Coastal Plain of Lake Ontario
Monitoring flight calls of night-migrating birds from a school-based transect of stations

Many birds migrate at night to and from their wintering & breeding grounds, and during these nocturnal flights many utter short vocalizations to keep in contact. This study involves a transect of listening stations across Lake Ontario's southern coastal plain that monitors the night sky for such migratory bird calls. In spring 2026, automatic bird call monitoring stations are located at schools (see station map below) with options for student participation. Additional stations are located near the shore surveying for huge coastal flights that sometimes occur when weather conditions do not facilitate northward migration across the Lake.

 

Warbler & sparrow night flight call detections are posted in near real-time to an online archive, and a text alert is available for when large flights are underway. Regardless of the magnitude of the flight, a summary of the previous evening's warbler and sparrow night flight call activity is uploaded daily by 6am (April 15 - May 30). 

Logo

Old Bird Inc.  501(c)(3) nonprofit

Information icon

We need your consent to load the translations

We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.