Prévoir la météo en observant les oiseaux

In local communauties, notably among farmers, fishers and hunters, weather forecasting often combines empirical observations and weather predictions through the phenological patterns of plants and the behaviour of birds and other animals. For example, in France, we ofthen say « when swallows fly near the ground, that means it will rain ». The production and application of local forecasts are localized and derived from an interaction with an environment rythmed by the cycles of seasonal changes. For the traditional weather forecasters, the phenology of certain plants and behaviours of some animals is a reliable indicator of a wet or dry year, or for the onset of the rainy season or adverse weather conditions.
Sandeep Acharya, from the department of Botany, Tripura University (India), describes in his article « Presage biology: lessons from nature in weather forecasting » several bio-indicators used to predict weather and explains why.