As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Saturday, 7 December 2013

It turns out birds have a knack for forecasting weather and adapting to changing elements, Western University researchers find

By John Miner, The London Free Press

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 7:20:18 EST PM

They don’t have access to Environment Canada’s radar website or even the Farmer’s Almanac.

But birds know ahead of time when bad weather is coming and adjust their daily routine, researchers at Western University have found.

“They know what is coming within the next few hours,” said Scott MacDougall-Shackleton, acting director of Western’s Advanced Facility for Avian Research.

Proving a long held but unproven belief that birds could predict the weather, the researchers simulated winter conditions and spring migration time for the white-throated sparrow — a bird seen in the London area in the spring and fall that breeds in the boreal forest and winters in the Pennsylvania-to-Tennessee region.

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