Staging area / Roost wake-up time.

hardyfarm · Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:18 pm

The martins are back at the NC903 area. The flock appears to be even bigger than before. What time should I get up to see them disperse in the morning? Thanks.

Emil Pampell-Tx · Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:11 am

about daylight, and at night, right before dark. I like to watch 10 cycles at 5min intervals. So if daylight is at 6AM, a good time to watch is from about 5:50Am to 6:20 AM. I would then turn it on @ 6:20, and you can see the whole thing.

DornCounty · Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:51 am

Emil I am confused?

Don Troha · Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:41 pm

Donut pattern visible near Kinston this morning. Snapshot was taken on the Plymouth radar site.
Sorry I can't save animations online.

hardyfarm · Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:06 pm

Thanks Emil, but I have to admit I was confused as well.

I guess you were referring to the radar site Don has posted the image from. Don, I have attempted to use the plymouth.edu site but not to any real success. Is this the right screen? If so I don't know what the identifier is. Obviously I need help.

[img][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7443 ... b0b282.jpg[/img]
BirdRadar by hardyfarm2012, on Flickr[/img]

Emil Pampell-Tx · Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:21 pm

I use the following, and choose to change the frames to ten after I find the radar site that I wish to monitor. I then update the radar site.

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radbl ... ightning=0

I am not very good on the computer, so I doubt that I can help you much. Sorry for the confusion

I think that you have it near Kinston, that looks like a roost

DornCounty · Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:21 pm

yeah we need an instructional in finding the donuts. I want to find a roost when they form in my area.

Emil Pampell-Tx · Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:27 pm

By using 10 frames, you can see it grow in size in the morning, and reduce in size at dark. The larger the roost, the easier it is to find it. If you have rain in the area, you may have trouble picking out the roost.

On the radar site near our house, the roost is on the SW side of Houston. Just click on it, and you should be able to see our roost when the time is correct

DornCounty · Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:32 pm

emil do you have to be watching the radar in the mornings? Or are there saved scans?

hardyfarm · Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:49 pm

Please no apologies Emil! I am learning all along and I have figured out how to get the map. I followed Don Troha's directions from Bumbee's "2012 PM Roost Stafford TX" post.) I was able to see the donut form and fan out.

Here's the link for the radar: http://vortex.plymouth.edu/nids.html I finally entered the right Station Identifier (Raleigh, NC is RAX) by clicking my state on the map. It's on the same page, just scroll down to it. Then go back and enter the ID. I clicked 25% zoom. The time goes by a 24 hour time frame so I clicked "10Z" for 10am. "Click here to view map" runs the loop 2 hours BEFORE the time you pick, not after. Thanks so much Don!

DornCounty · Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:41 pm

Z is greenwich mean time.. so I think you have to take off 5 hrs.. for central time.

hardyfarm · Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:49 pm

I'm Eastern so would I only take off 3 hours? Confused again, haha!

Don Troha · Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:58 pm

Hardyfarm, glad you got the Plymouth radar menu figured out. As DornCounty mentioned, the time is UTC(GMT), so since you are on EDT, 10Z is 6AM EDT (EDT=UTC-4hrs).
The wunderground site is real-time, so it has to be run within an hour or so of roost time to catch a time lapse of the roost. Have you found the actual roost (trees, crops?).

DornCounty, I checked some of the Kansas radars with the Plymouth web site and I don't see anything that looks like a roost. Still early...

hardyfarm · Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:19 pm

Yes! It's located in what we call the "Hundred Acre Field." Before they had roosted in the wheat, same field. We picked the wheat last week and now they are roosting in the corn, same field down from the wheat. I am in awe of the whole thing quite frankly. It is just amazing. The latitude, longitude is 35.25,-77.81. It started around 8pm and by 9pm they are down to roost. I took some video of the roost. I hope the PMs will show up. It was getting dark.

Don Troha · Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:55 pm

Cool! Just wondering though where they will go when the corn is gone. Post some pics.

hardyfarm · Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:58 pm

The corn won't be picked until the third week of August or so. By then, the beans that were planted after picking the wheat will be tall enough to support the roost. But, won't the PMs be gone by then anyway?

DornCounty · Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:05 am

Thanks Don.. as that time gets closer I will do some checking myself.

Don Troha · Tue Jun 26, 2012 4:11 pm

But, won't the PMs be gone by then anyway?

Maybe. Last year the roost near here went away gradually in Aug-Sept with the last ones leaving the 3rd week of Sept.
Yr roost may disappear earlier since it's further north. I bet those fields are enjoying the bug-control provided by the Purple Martins.

hardyfarm · Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:48 pm

It will be interesting to see what happens. Yes, the PMs are very busy eating insects and being "green."

I finally got a video but it just doesn't do the site justice. You can't see all the birds swirling in some instances. Anyway, try to check it out! http://youtu.be/cLwQLN-GO4U

hardyfarm · Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:19 pm

I have a couple photos of the roost here in NC. It appears to be growing in size. After watching it every day for almost a week, I'm still in awe.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/79678 ... .jpg[/img]
PMs1 by hardyfarm2012, on Flickr[/url]

PMs3 by hardyfarm2012, on Flickr