Heavy migration last night over the entire Northeast and most of the Mid-Atlantic as winds were blowing from the N/NW toward the frontal boundary that had passed over our area during the day yesterday. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through sunrise this morning.
Frames are every 1/2 hour for reflectivity and velocity, and every hour for the regional composite. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.
The signal is quintessential “bird migration”. Base reflectivity appears as growing concentric circles as birds take to the sky after sunset; the circles appearing to “grow” as more birds reach higher altitudes which the radar picks up at increasing distances from the radar station, and “shrink” as birds descend and land before sunrise. If you check my post from last night, you’ll see that the winds were light (5-10kts), yet the base velocity shows objects moving across the radar at 20-30kts in a general N–>S direction. This is exactly what we would expect, since when winds are favorable birds migrate at 15-20kts faster than the prevailing wind speed.
The front, a true boundary, separated these northerly winds from the southerly winds, and hence demarcates the limits of the major migration event. Since the front had cleared New Jersey before this morning, birds moved relatively freely over the state and birding conditions are probably best at coastal fall migrant traps such as Sandy Hook (north) Island Beach State Park (central) and especially Cape May (south). All local patches should be checked, however, since the influx of birds from the north was quite large. Please stop by and post your observations!
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5 responses to “Heavy migration over the Northeast”
Date: 27-Aug-07 WindDesc: none Temp(F): 61 Precip: none
StartTime: 6:45 AM WindDir: variable CloudCover: none
EndTime: 9:00 AM Location: HMF
Notes: big southbound migration last night. Winds were calm to
NW and migrants had been backed up for a week or
more. Not very birdy around my place (not a good fall spot anyway), although a few notable migrants
present.
English Name Scientific Name Notes
Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus – flyover
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura –
Ruby-throated Archilochus colubris – 3, at feeder
Hummingbird
Eastern Wood-Pewee Contopus virens – several, resident
Eastern Kingbird Tyrannus tyrannus – 1
White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus –
Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus – 2
Chickadee sp. Poecile sp. – many
Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor – many
White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis – many
Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus –
House Wren Troglodytes aedon –
Wood Thrush Hylocichla mustelina –
American Robin Turdus migratorius – many
Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis – many
Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum – many
Chestnut-sided Warbler Dendroica pensylvanica – 1, HY
Magnolia Warbler Dendroica magnolia – 2, HY
Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia – 3, at least 1 HY
American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla – 3, HY
Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas –
Eastern Towhee Pipilo erythrophthalmus –
Field Sparrow Spizella pusilla –
Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula – 1
American Goldfinch Carduelis tristis – many
forgot to mention, BOBOLINKS calling overhead this AM as well.
We went to Sandy Hook this morning. The flags were blowing from a northeasterly direction which is never good for passerine migration at the Hook.
While we did see BG Gnatcatcher, Eastern Kingbird and a few other species including 5 RB Nuthatches it was very quiet. We did see 3 White-Rumped Sandpipers and 1 Western SP at the ephemeral pond on the right going out on the Fisherman’s Trail at the North end. All in all it was a disappointing
morning.
A small but noteworthy flight at Chimney Rock this morning- Magnolia, BT Blue, Redstart, Parula…a lone migratory osprey…in roughly 45 minutes.
Reports from the Mid-Atlantic (MD, DE, PA, NJ) are mixed this afternoon, with some folks finding very little sign of migration, and others finding more; including a mix of warblers, flycatchers including Olive-sided and Empidonax spp., and Catharus thrushes. The only relatively consistent pattern seemed to be a big movement of Red-breasted Nuthatches across the region.