This is Scientific American 60 Second Science.

I'm Christopher Intagiyata.

You may have spotted V-shaped squadrons of geese heading south this fall,

but for many migrants, like smaller songbirds,

nighttime is the right time when it comes to migration. The winds are gentler and darkness

helps them avoid airborne attacks. Of course, darkness also makes it harder for us to see them, which is where

weather radar comes in. These radars were designed to detect water drops in the air, precipitation

in the air.

Jeff Buehler, an ornithologist and

aeroeecologist at the University of Delaware.

They also detect any other large objects that will reflect back

that radio energy and it essentially sees insects and bats and birds as large drops of water.

Buehler and his team used three weather surveillance radars to track migratory birds near the Great Lakes and they observed four spring migrations in a row.

What they found was as the night migration ended and dawn broke.

Many birds in flight over the lakes, they turned back, decided to quit for the day,

which meant crowded real estate on the south shore of the lakes, as the birds piled up there

to wait out the day. The study is in the journal The Auk.

The message here for conservators.

Restoring one hectare of forest along the shoreline of Lake Michigan might be able to support more migrants than a hectare forest

50 kilometers away from the shoreline.

Because birds, just like humans, like that lakefront property.

Thanks for listening. For Scientific American 60 Second Science, I'm Christopher

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