Strong winds and birding is not a recipe for success. For years I have checked my local weather forecasts … for expected temperatures, clouds, and wind. While most weather apps and services do a decent job with forecasted precipitation, temps and clouds, I have never been really satisfied with the wind forecasts. Recently I found a great service which although focused towards windsurfers, sailors and other folks who spend lots of time on or near the water, Windfinder works great for the birder. Here is the same service but not bookmarked for Northeastern Minnesota: Windfinder NE Mn.

Here are six screenshots which I annotated and works one through the basic service. Please note this service is NOT an app, but just bookmark it on your personal computer or mobile device.

Here we see the default Windfinder screen, but focused upon my own region. The starred pins are weather stations which I saved as favorites. One may see the direction of the wind (arrows / vectors). In real time the arrows are moving across your screen. One may zoom in and out / move the map to focus upon specific areas. As many birds including owls hate stronger winds, this forecast and directional vectors are very useful.

I have now selected the details for the weather station nearest my home, French River. One may view additional details for either the forecast or current conditions (measurements)

Here was the current forecast when I took and annotated these screenshots. Both this image and the next down are from the same web page.

Further down the page as previously noted … I tend to pay close attention to expected wind gusts.

I now went back to the map and selected current measurements / actuals. Obviously weather actuals don’t always track forecasts. Once again both this image and the next down are from the same web page.  I pay close attention to wind gusts, but now also trends.

Further down the page as previously noted …

Windfinder will help increase your birding success. There is no doubt that truly calm conditions (constant wind plus gusts) mean more birds. If you know when this type of weather will occur, particularly after storms, you can count upon hungry birds.

And now for a few photographs. I found this Barred Owl while hiking the Elm Creek Nature Center Trails this morning  (NW suburbs of the Twin Cities). Unlike at home where I live in the Boreal Forest, pines and spruce trees are somewhat rare. Thus, this Barred Owl was using the one lone spruce amongst all the oak and ash trees for a winter perch. Manual focus was required given how deeply the owl was buried within the branches.

Finally two more pics from my Northern Hawk Owl experience up in Sax-Zim Bog a few days ago. It takes time to get through all my images, and as you may notice on my blog’s header, Northern Hawk Owls are one of my favorite birds. The second image is in low light around sunrise with lots of frost on the tree.