SHORT-RANGE HIGH-PRECISION SURVEILLANCE OF NOCTURNAL MIGRATION AND TRACKING OF SINGLE TARGETS

ABSTRACT Possibilities and limitations in the application of different radar types for ornithological research are summarized. Methodological details are given for the tracking radar “Superfledermaus". The pencil-beam of this radar can either be fixed at a certain angle or used in a conical or vertical scanning mode to obtain data on the spatial distribution of birds. Procedures and problems of calculating bird numbers from the radar data obtained by conical scanning are emphasized. In the tracking mode, the flight paths of single targets like birds or meteorological balloons can be recorded. The fluctuations of the radar signals provide information on the birds' wingbeat pattern, thus offering the possibility to obtain data on the proportions of different bird classes aloft and to compare the flight path data of a bird, such as track, heading, ground speed, air speed, vertical speed, gliding angle, and altitude, with wing flapping and environmental conditions.