Winds aloft over three water bodies influence spring stopover distributions of migrating birds along the Gulf of Mexico coast

Migrating birds contend with dynamic wind conditions that ultimately influence most aspects of their migration, from broad-scale movements to individual decisions about where to rest and refuel. We used weather surveillance radar data to measure spring stopover distributions of northward migrating birds along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast and found a strong influence of winds over non-adjacent water bodies, the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, along with the contiguous Gulf of Mexico. Specifically, we quantified the relative influence of meridional (north-south) and zonal (west-east) wind components over the three water bodies on weekly spring stopover densities along western, central, and eastern regions of the northern Gulf of Mexico coast. Winds over the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean were just as, or more, influential than winds over the Gulf of Mexico, with the highest stopover densities in the central and eastern regions of the coast following the fastest winds from the eas...