High flying formations over NJ in infrared (1 Viewer)

[jmalaska]

Hi there,

I was having fun with my infrared camera the other night. It was clear and there was a (almost?) full moon.

I was facing to the east. The flock was moving due south, somewhere over Sandy Hook and then south along the Jersey Shore from there.

It was really cold outside, around 26 F when I captured this around 10 PM. The wind was around 6 knots from the NE. These birds were high up.

I thought it was really cool to see them migrating south. But thought it was really late in the season to migrate, and too cold up there. My guess around 15 F.

What kinds of birds could sustain flight with groupings like this, that high, at temps that cold, and migrate this time of year?

Original video if you want to download (less compression from Youtube): Dropbox

Cheers!

 

[Stonefaction]

Geese, or maybe Swans, would be my guess. Certainly flock structure is reminiscent of skeins of geese. The geese we get over here tend to be quite vocal and the sound carries a long way, but have seen them go over high without a sound.

 

[Gladiator96]

May I ask what thermal camera this was filmed with please?

 

[gsimonel]

I agree. It looks like a flock of Canada geese.

 

[nartreb]

Yep, flock shape is typical for geese. Swans are pretty unlikely in such a big flock. There are a few other birds that move in similar shapes (ducks, cormorants) but if I had to bet, I'd stick with geese. They often fly quite high when migrating.

There are still plenty of Canada geese here in New England; the migration timing is all spread out from October to January (or never). We had a pretty hard freeze a couple of days ago so maybe that's what convinced your group to move as the lakes froze over.

 

[jurek]

It looks more like an escaped toy kite or a similar man-made object than a flock of geese. Some bits are long lines, and pieces don't change position, unlike birds in a flock.

 

[gsimonel]

A kite wouldn't show up in infrared. Also, if you bounce around the video, skipping ahead or going back in 30-60 second increments, you'll see that the shape does change over time.