Important Definitions Regarding Bird Migration
Accipiter: Medium-sized hawks with short broad wings and a long tail and a characteristic flight pattern of several quickflaps and then a glide. Examples include sharp-shinned, Cooper's and Northern goshawk.
Bird migration: The periodic seasonal movement of birds from one geographic region to another.
Buteo: Hawks with broad rounded wings, relatively short tails, and soaring flight. Examples include broad-winged, red-tailed and red-shouldered hawk.
Cold Front: A leading edge of a cooler mass of air, replacing (at ground level) a warmer mass of air. Autumn hawk flights are best on days with northwest wind following a cold front.
Deflective current: deflective currents in which prevailing wind deflects upward against a cliff or mountain ridge
Dihedral:The angle at whichthe bird’s wings or the halves are inclined upward like a soaring "V." Turkey vultures soar in a dihedral wing position.
Fallout: Large flocks or concentrations of birds found resting during or immediately after stormy weather events.
Falcon: Fastest birds of prey, which are built for speed with streamlined bodies and long, pointed wings. Species include peregrine, merlin and American kestrel.
Flyway: The route followed by migratory birds, which might be mountain ridges, large rivers or coastal margins.
HMANA : The Hawk Migration Association of North America, which is a membership-based organization committed to the conservation of raptors through the scientific study.
JIZZ- The immediately recognizable characteristics of a bird such as wing shape and flight pattern.
Kettle: A group of hawks wheeling and circling in the air formed by thermal currents when morning sun heats the terrain and warm air rises into the atmosphere.
Neo-tropical: A bird that spends the summer in its breeding range in North America but migrates to Central or South America for its non-breeding range in winter.
Passerine: Birds of the order Passeriformes, which includes perching birds and songbirds such as blue jays, blackbirds and finches.
Raptor or Hawk: Birds of prey that hunt vertebrates. Bald eagles, ospreys, northern harriers and red-tailed hawks are raptors.
Shorebird: A bird that lives and feeds near the shores of coastal or inland waters such as sandpipers and plovers.
Songbird: A bird with musical call, especially a passerine belonging to the group that includes finches and thrushes.
Stopover: A temporary place of rest and refuge such as lakes, rivers and forests used by migratory birds
Thermal current: Sun-heated terrain which causes warm air to rise into the atmosphere.
"V" Formation: A synergistic strategy when waterfowl such as geese fly in a "V" formation, which enables the flock to move faster and maintain flight longer than any one goose flying alone.
Waterfowl: An aquatic bird including ducks, geese and swans.