Morning Flight
What is Morning Flight?
Morning flight refers to the phenomenon of birds engaging in diurnal migration immediately following a nocturnal migration event. It is believed that such flights consist of a combination of birds returning to land from the ocean, birds compensating for lateral drift incurred during the previous night's migration, and birds seeking habitat in which to rest and forage.
The Great Marsh forms an expansive stretch of saltmarsh that migratory songbirds must cross as they reorient inland during morning flights. Our goal is to identify the primary corridors used in these movements and apply our findings to guide effective outreach and conservation strategies.
How do songbirds move across the Great Marsh?
When large concentrations of nocturnally migrating birds find themselves aloft over the Great Marsh and its adjacent coastal waters at dawn, the ensuing movement across the marsh can be intense, as thousands of birds reorient simultaneously away from the coast toward more suitable stopover habitat inland. We aim to understand how birds navigate across the Great Marsh during these morning flights—whether primary corridors exist, and how atmospheric conditions and topography influence their paths.