A radar image this week at Paducah's National Weather Service office turned out to be tens of thousands of migrating birds.

Early Friday morning, meteorologists noticed the dark green spots on their radar even though there was no precipitation occurring.

Further investigation revealed that right now is the peak fall season for birds flying south for the winter. Their radar was actually detecting 50,000 to 70,000 birds passing by each hour overnight at altidudes up to 1800 feet.

Bird migration for the fall actually starts in August through November, but the peak in our region is underway. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology , up to 500 million birds are in the air each night across the eastern half of the nation this week. They'll make their annual return trip north through our

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