A really nice movement of birds was obvious on the radar last night. Interestingly, at about 4am a front pushed over our area and shut it down. This should have caused some localized fallout conditions this morning, primarily along the middle ridges, but probably across the state as well.
I’m on my way out the check the yard. 🙂
4 responses to “Big Migration Over New Jersey”
This morning around The Forest:
Huge flocks of:
The Sparrows:
The Rest:
Common Yellowthroat, Carolina Wren, Eastern Phoebe, Downy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, N. Cardinal, N. Mockingbird
I spent 15 minutes loading the realtime radars for 10 hours – I’ve discovered that if you add them in 2 hour increments one’s program doesn’t choke – and saw what you meant about the big movement. You could actually “see” the birds alighting as the precip moved in.
So I went to 6 Mile Run, but I found a very different mix. Lots of juncos had moved in, and field sparrows were very visible. Of course, they breed abundantly there, but I thought I was seeing migrants. They were very active and visible.
Overhead were many, many red-winged blackbirds. These were flying in full daylight though. I wonder if they are night migrants? They were not in huge flocks, but flying in twos and threes, a steady stream.
I had to wait around for the sun. I could see the blanket of clouds steadily falling away to the east. Finally, just around 8 am, the sun broke through and the the birds were in brilliant sun.
I’m not sure where “the forest” is but my brief walk at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst provided the same results. Lots of Yellow rumps & Palm Warblers. Also, both types of kinglets and a few Pheobes
Night migration on Tuesday evening, October 17 from 6:30pm until 11:45pm over the Empire State Building (ESB) in Manhattan was very strong. Total number of migrants counted was 3,387. Watching from the Observation Deck of the ESB (elevation 1050 feet above ground level), the first migrant appeared at 7:10pm (sunset was at 6:10pm). The best hour was from 9-10pm when 1,009 migrants were counted, or about one migrant every 3.5 seconds. Most came through in groups, but not “flocks” per se. A lone (male) Peregrine Falcon flew about the building at 7:15pm (in the dark), but was not seen afterward. The flight remained strong through 11:45pm, with 841 birds counted in the last hour. Overall, tonight provided the greatest total of night migrating birds (exclusive of waterfowl) in 2004-05. Winds were very strong (WNW at 20-30mph), and several of the birds were blown west to east in front of the building. However, despite these conditions, no collisions with the building were seen. In my two years of counting (25,000 migrants +), not a single bird has been observed colliding with the Empire State Building. This suggests to me that most bird collisions occur primarily at or near gound level, and close to dawn. (Most bird collisions in North America occur during the day…according to the people at FLAP in Toronto.) There was a strong Woodcock migration tonight: 11 total migrants. Later in the month, a good night will produce 40 or so Woodcocks. Though this species is picked up at greater than expected numbers in front of buildings, they fly past the Observation Deck without circling, on rapid wingbeats much like other shorebirds.