Exodus from north to south


Well, I have to give Don Freiday partial credit for calling migration last night. I expected the winds to have a bit more south on them, but over most of the region they remained westerly. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 6:00am 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.
Base Reflectivity image from Fort DixBase Velocity image from Fort DixBase Reflectivity image from Dover AFBBase Velocity image from Dover AFBComposite Base Reflectivity image from the Northeastern USA

The heaviest migration was of birds leaving north and central Jersey heading south. Very little replacement occurred into the northern part of the state, so birding conditions in the northern half should have degraded overnight. On the other hand, birds were leaving Pennsylvania heading ESE last night, so southern Jersey received a double-dose of migrants from both the west, and the north. This could mean excellent birding conditions in places like Cape May, but also would be good for places along the Delaware River such as Palmyra and the upper Delaware Bay. Okay- now for the ground truthing! I expect some reports from the field this afternoon (yes, that means you!).

Good Birding

David

P.S. Come check out my migration forecast for the Mid-Atlantic on Birdcapemay.org

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3 responses to “Exodus from north to south”

  1. Was only at Higbees for about an hour but there were great (unbelieveable!) numbers of Yellow rumped and Palm Warblers, and both Kinglets.

  2. Money Island Rd. in Salem County. Three hours around mid morning. I didn’t get there at dawn. Should have. This area is near the Delaware River, not the bay area like Cumberland County. Nice numbers. The usual this time of the year. YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. Surprisingly, unless I missed them, no Palms. Lots of Sparrows.
    38 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS – with 9 adults.
    54 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS
    40+ SWAMP SPARROWS
    1 BLACKPOLL – late for Salem County for me.
    Both KINGLETS, but not many of them.
    4 HERMIT THRUSHES
    Lots of BLUE JAYS, BROWN THRASHERS, etc.
    1 YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD – a first-year male. Whether that came in last night or well before I don’t know. Abbott’s Meadow. I was looking for
    Saw-whet Owls with no success.

  3. Amy and I hit Hyper Humus and a few of our other local spots in Sussex County today. Things were very slow up here today…from where we stand the radar was right on.

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