Here we go again!
I know, it’s still early March- but I was born prematurely, and so I often find myself chomping at the bit. Sam Galick alerted me to some signs of migration on last night’s radar of the southeastern United States. Low densities of birds were moving last night as the winds along the gulf coast and Florida were from the south. This stopped about the mid-Atlantic, as winds switched around to the northwest. As Sam pointed out, the cutoff line appeared to be correlated with the most recent freeze line, suggesting that possibly the birds are only migrating as far as there is thawed ground. Certain birds do follow this pattern, coined the 2-degree isotherm (referring to 2 Degrees Celsius, which equals around 36.5 Fahrenheit), such as American Robins and Canada Geese, which could definitely make up a large portion of the migrants this time of year. I’m inclined to think the wind patterns drove this abrupt pattern change, but the alternative is still quite interesting.
Anyway, this post serves as the first of many to come with regards to the Spring 2007 New Jersey Migration Study on woodcreeper.com. If you haven’t used this site before, or if you want to refresh your memory, feel free to check out the background page, and familiarize yourself with the set of important links I’ve posted to the right-hand sidebar under Radar Study.
I hope you find this site interesting, but more importantly I hope you come back often, post your sightings, and participate in some of the discussions.

Good Birding!

David