In a typical year, waterfowl migrate by the millions in California from September through March via the Pacific Flyway. They winter in wetlands, rice and corn fields. The Central Valley alone is home to 3 million waterfowl at the height of migration.

Tracking wild birds that could carry the avian influenza virus is a key concern for protecting the state’s poultry industry. Avian influenza kills chickens, turkeys and other birds, which can take a huge economic toll. In 2014- 2015, the nation experienced its worst bird flu outbreak in history, resulting in more than 48 million birds dying in 15 states, including California.

Maurice Pitesky with a radar map of migratory waterfowl. The red is a high density area near Sacramento, which is surrounded by flooded rice fields, and the lower blue is a low density area in Fresno, where there isn't much wetlands habitat.
Maurice Pitesky with a radar map of migratory waterfowl. The red is a high density area near Sacramento, which is surrounded by flooded rice fields, and the lower blue is a low density area in Fresno, where there isn’t much wetlands habitat.

Preventing another bird flu outbreak is why UC researchers have adopted some novel tracking approaches. The same weather radar technology used to predict rain is now being used to track wild birds that could carry the virus, according to Maurice Pitesky, UC Cooperative Extension poultry specialist.

“We use the existing network of weather radar stations in the U.S. in the same way that radar is used to track rain,” he said. “Except that we process the data to allow us to interpret the radar signal bouncing off birds instead of raindrops.”

How It Works

NEXRAD, or next-generation radar, is a network of 160 high-resolution S-band Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service. The technology works best for tracking birds in the winter during feeding.  When waterfowl leave their roosting locations in concert to feed, their bodies produce reflectivity of the radar beam.

Todd Kelman, a veterinarian and engineer who co-leads the project with Pitesky, is also in the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis. He says: “By tracking mass bird movements remotely in real-time, we hope to gain novel strategic insights with respect to surveillance and prevention of avian influenza transmission to domestic poultry.”

A NEXRAD map.
A NEXRAD map details where migrating waterfowl are gathered in rice fields, herbaceous wetlands and other agricultural land.

Pitesky adds, “Using NEXRAD and various other approaches, we hope to be able to produce monthly or quarterly maps that will alert poultry producers as to the locations of waterfowl in the Central Valley of California.”

“Waterfowl populations can have different habitat based on the amount of precipitation in a given year,” explains Pitesky. “We need to use these types of monitoring tools to understand where waterfowl are located. Landsat, or satellite-based land imagery, and NEXRAD are two remote tools that may be very useful, as opposed to flyovers and banding, which are more expensive and not practical for large geographical areas.”

Funded by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, the project is a collaboration between UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Jeff Buler, University of Delaware wildlife ecologist whose team first developed the NEXRAD approach in the Central Valley of California.

They are also working with the U.S. Geological Survey, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the California Poultry Federation, the Pacific Egg and Poultry Association and Point Blue, an organization that focuses on conservation science.

 

 

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