There’s nothing like a tailwind to get birds moving around here, and last night was no exception. Here’s the radar from 6:00pm last night through 5:00am this morning.

Frames are every 1/2 hour. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.

After the cold front pushed offshore on Friday night, high pressure built in over the region on Saturday clearing up the skies and bringing light-but-steady northwest winds. The radar indicates that soon after sunset birds took to the skies heading south/southeast. The velocity images indicate that much of the signal was indeed birds. This is determined by 1) The trajectory of movement is off axis from that of the winds- you can see the change in direction during the first few frames of the animation which starts off WNW–>ESE and quickly turns almost N–>S as birds enter the radar’s view, and 2) the speed of the targets is significantly greater than that of the prevailing winds. The winds were ~5-10mph whereas movement was 25-30mph. With no precipitation to concentrate birds, most of them will have passed over us unimpeded, while those that put down during daybreak will be dispersed across the landscape.

So, where to go birding? Given the westerly component to the wind, I’d suspect Sandy Hook, Island Beach SP, and Cape May would all be good choices. Brigantine would probably be good too, owing to the shorebird numbers also moving through. Birds will be dispersed across the landscape today, so choosing a known fall migrant trap will increase the likelihood of a good birding day.
Good Birding

David

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

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