雷达捕捉到佛罗里达群岛上空庞大的候鸟群

A weather radar in the Florida Keys has captured an image of Hitchcockian proportions – a huge swarm of migrating birds from South America.

佛罗里达群岛的一台气象雷达捕捉到了希区柯克式的景象——一大群来自南美的候鸟。

“Key West radar has had a busy night, but not because of weather!” the National Weather Service announced on Twitter early Monday.

“基韦斯特雷达今晚很忙，但不是因为天气!”美国国家气象局星期一早上在推特上宣布。

Meteorologists said the flock’s radius was at least 90 miles long, according to the Tampa Bay Times, but the size of the migration could have been much larger.

据《坦帕湾时报》(Tampa Bay Times)报道，气象学家说，候鸟群的半径至少有90英里长，但迁徙的规模可能要大得多。

More than 118 species of birds begin their journey back to North America at this time of year in flocks that can exceed a million after wintering in Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean, according to the newspaper.

据该报报道，每年的这个时候，超过118种鸟类成群结队地开始它们返回北美的旅程，在中美洲、南美洲和加勒比地区过冬后，它们的数量可能超过100万只。

They fly at night, using the moon and the stars to navigate, and often go undetected – but optimal atmospheric conditions allowed to radar to pick up the creatures in a sea of green and yellow, with rain depicted in blue.

它们在夜间飞行，利用月亮和星星导航，而且经常不被发现——但是最佳的大气条件允许雷达在绿色和黄色的海洋中捕捉到这些生物，蓝色的代表雨。

The birds that lit up the radar started in Cuba a day earlier, passed over the Keys and landed in Florida before sunrise Monday.

点亮雷达的鸟在一天前从古巴出发，经过群岛，在周一日出前降落在佛罗里达。

“Some birds might be hanging out on the Yucatan or in Cuba waiting for tailwinds to pick them up,” Gina Kent, a conservation scientist with the Avian Research and Conservation institute, told the paper.

鸟类研究与保护研究所的保护科学家吉娜·肯特告诉《纽约时报》:“一些鸟类可能在尤卡坦半岛或古巴等着顺风把它们带走。”

“On a good wind, more birds that might not otherwise be ready could jump on it,” she added.

她补充说:“如果风大的话，更多的鸟可能会跳着加入迁徙行列。”