Winds were variable at different altitudes last night; northeast on the surface, and northwest aloft. Either way, both triggered another night of heavy migration over the entire region. Here’s the radar from 7:00pm last night through 5:00am this morning.
Frames are every 1/2 hour. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.
Based on the reflectivity image, it appears that migration was heavy across the entire northeast and mid-Atlantic last night. This marks the fourth consecutive night of moderate to heavy migration whereby birds moved without obstacle across a major portion of the US. Interesting also is the fact that the flight was heavy last night, rather than moderate to light, given the number of consecutive migration events. I contribute this to the number of birds that took flight four nights ago (9/15-9/16) which represented the largest flight of the season, and the idea that many of these birds were able to refuel during the last three days before taking off again last night.
Of course I have no hard data to back this up, so hopefully the bird banders (ringers, sorry Bill) in the region will chime in with their opinions based on their banding data.
As far as birding goes, the trajectory of migration (NE -> SW) suggests that inland sites will be favored today. Chimney Rock, because of its position on the southern end of the Watchungs), would be a good choice (of course, Mike Britt will probably still go to Garret Mountain… which is historically a spring migrant trap, owing to its position at the northern end of the Watchungs… but you know what they say: “you can lead a horse to water….”). Southern Jersey, along the Delaware Bay shore, should be hopping again today, and Cape May, while not the best pick because of the east winds, should still see enough birds to keep the locals from straying far into “North Jersey” (as in, “beyond Wildwood”).
Good Birding
David
P.S. Come check out my migration forecast for the Mid-Atlantic on Birdcapemay.org
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5 responses to “More migration on north winds”
Fairly quiet passerine wise at the CF–but I did tally Blackpoll, N. Water, several Palms, RE Vireo, 2 Grosbeaks, 2 Buntings, and several Bobolinks (great year for them!) Others had Tenn, Parula, Yellow, Prairie, & an early Field Sparrow.
The Real action was w/ Raptors. Sharpie, Coop, 2 Tails, and 2 Red-shoulders seemingly following around a GHO in the woods!
No sign of last evening’s Dickcissel.
Quick stop early at LSP
Palms, B&W and BT Greens mostly
Bay and Tennessee singles
Hey David,
Similiar story up here in Maine . . . the volume of last night’s flight caught me off guard. Excellent flights Monday and Tuesday nights.
By Wednesday night, conditions were still quite good, but intensity was significantly reduced. I figured we would see increasingly slow but steady flights as weather has been great for nocturnal migration for 4 straight nights.
Then, last night – BAM!
http://maineoutdoorjournal.mainetoday.com/blogentry.html?id=7960
First big flocks of White-throated Sparrows were on the ground today, so it looks like sparrow season is underway up here! Interesting, however, to see that folks down your way are seeing Palm Warblers – my first were today, and I haven’t seen any reports of them before that (aside from birds in breeding habitats).
-Derek
Thanks for all the posts everyone!
Derek
I saw the first report of White-throated Sparrow from Garret Mountain today, and Lincoln’s have been showing up around the state over the last week. As for Palms, that’s interesting… I wonder what’s up, if this was just the early push of southern breeders (your breeders?) and the big push of northern breeders is still to come? I’m not too well versed on the breeding range in Canada… I should go check the BNA account and find out… maybe later. Any ideas from anyone else?
See! This has been my argument for having multiple radar websites across the country… we could actually start looking at broader patterns, not unlike what’s possible now with all of the hawkwatch data.
Cheers
David
I suspect that the strength of this last front was enough to move some juvenile/adults who didn’t try and double brood Palm Warblers into good habitat in the mid-Atlantic, probably from North Central Canada given the strong NW winds that set this change in weather up. Duke has had a small trickle for a few weeks now, which is usual for the site…at the height of Palm migration you can count dozens here in single days so its safe to say that theres many more to come.