Over the past few days my birding has followed this formula: Timing + Location – Wind = Success! While one could argue these variables are always important, in the winter I rarely head out birding without first consulting my hour by hour weather forecast (I use WeoWow) and have that app configured to take direct input from the National Weather Service.
In the winter I first research sunrise and sunset times followed by wind speeds (basic and gusts). From my prior birding excursions I normally have a good idea what locations to target my efforts. In the winter, food is scare and knowledge of food sources dramatically helps your probability of success.
For this pine grosbeak I knew that songbirds often “grit up” on remote roads starting 30 to 40 minutes after sunrise. Thus, I like to slowly drive backroads at this time of day before stopping somewhere else for a birding hike.
For the Snowy Owls, while the white birds may perch in plain sight during the day, these owls get much more active starting one hour before sunset, or recently about 3:30 pm. However given Snowys love wide open spaces, strong winds will shut down their hunting as the birds roost on the ground in protected spots awaiting calmer conditions. I lke to keep wind speeds below 15 mph.
As an example, right now my weather app says wind gusts are 28 mph at 7:30 am. The net effect is I am staying home. Sunrise this morning will be at 7:50 am, which given the clouds means light which allows you to see birds will actually a half hour later at 8:20 am, but as noted given the wind I am staying home.
Yesterday I used my same hour by hour weather forecast and perfectly birded in a “weather window”. At sunrise it was dead calm and 28F, but a few hours later around 11:00 30+ mph winds with crashing temperatures towards 5F would arrive. the forecast held true and I was 15 miles from home when the whiteout conditions arrived.
