Doppler weather radar capabilities and its increased accessibility have presented new opportunities for bird research. In 2004, high resolution (Level II: 8 to 10 times greater precision) data became more readily available to the scientific community. Whereas radar technology has been used for decades to describe bird movements, much of the radar data applications used in bird research have relied on lower resolution data (referred to as Level III data). More than 150 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather radar stations across the United States are collecting echoes 24 hours per day 7 days per week to create massive databases that require complex analyses.

Nearly all eastern migratory songbird species as well as many western species use Louisiana and the northern Gulf of Mexico coast during their transcontinental migrations each spring and fall. Radar has determined that hundreds of millions of birds make the crossing of the Gulf of Mexico resulting in daily flights with as many as 2.5 million individuals stopping in Louisiana to feed and rest. Researchers along the gulf coast are converting high resolution radar data into a form usable for subsequent analyses and are georeferencing it for GIS applications. A related project is designed to determine the broad habitat preferences of wintering waterfowl in southwest Louisiana.