Up to half a billion birds are migrating southward each night. Researchers can use weather radars to track them.

The Weather Channel last week reported in a video that so many of the bugs are flying around the mid-Atlantic region that they’re appearing on radar screens.

Illinois is no stranger to severe weather; from tornadoes to blizzards, we see it all. There are concerns the National Weather Service is not using updated technology, but a new radar called the “Phased Array Radar” could be the replacement.

Radar doesn’t just show raindrops. Radar beams will bounce off of anything in the air and return a signal back to the radar site. We see wind turbines, large swarms of insects, bats leaving caves and the great fall bird migration. Here’s a screen shot just from this afternoon. The odd looking radar screen is still filled with migrating birds.