Abstract
Moon watching is a method of quantifying nocturnal bird migration by focusing a telescope on the moon and recording observations of flying birds silhouetted against the lunar surface. Although simple and well-established, researchers use moon watching infrequently due in part to the hours of late night observation it requires. To reduce the labor entailed in moon watching, we designed a low-cost system called LunAero that can track and record video of the moon at night. Here we present a proof-of-concept prototype that can serve as a platform for citizen scientists interested in observing nocturnal bird migration. We tested the video recording on clear nights from February 2018 to May 2019 when the moon was full or nearly full. Manual analysis of a 1.5h sample of video revealed a total of 450 birds, which is a much higher detection rate than previous moon watching efforts have yielded. The hardware described here is part of a larger effort involving software development (currently underway) to automate recorded video analysis. We argue that LunAero can reduce the labor involved in moon watching, offer improved data quality over traditional moon watching, and provide insights into social behavior and wind-drift compensation in migrating birds.
Highlights
Moon watching is a method of quantifying nocturnal bird migration by focusing a telescope on the moon and recording observations of flying birds silhouetted against the lunar surface
We present a proof-of-concept prototype that can serve as a platform for citizen scientists interested in observing nocturnal bird migration
The use of radar superseded moon watching as a means of observing and quantifying nocturnal bird migration [19,6]
Summary
Bird migration is both a fascinating and ecologically important phenomenon that influences many natural communities by transfer of biomass [1,2] over large distances and providing vectors for diseases and parasites [3]. One venerable and well-tested means of observing migration is to focus a telescope on the moon and use it as a ‘‘backdrop” to note the passage of individual birds overhead. This observational method, known as moon watching, was first described by W. The use of radar superseded moon watching as a means of observing and quantifying nocturnal bird migration [19,6]. In this paper we describe a working LunAero system and present the results of testing performed during peak bird migration in the spring of 2018 along with some preliminary analyses of bird densities and flight behavior
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