Bird detection by operational weather radar

Within the Avian Alert System of Systems (SoS) initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA), we have explored the potential of operational C-band Doppler weather radar as a bird migration sensor. A bird migration recognition algorithm has been developed, extracting bird density, speed and direction as a function of altitude. The weather radar data have been validated against simultaneous and co-located bird density measurements by a high precision bird radar, provided by the Swiss Ornithological Institute (SOI). This mobile tracking radar has been stationed next to weather radar sites in the Netherlands, Belgium and France during the peak bird migration season in autumn 2007 and spring 2008.