Winds were light and northerly on the surface last night, and strong (15kts) and northeasterly aloft, which one would expect to trigger heavy migration over the region. Here’s the radar from 6:00pm last night through 6:00am this morning.

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

The radar did indicate the typical migration pattern at all locations last night: about a half hour after sunset, birds took to the sky and increased in density until midnight, after which density began to decline as birds made their way back towards land for the day. The velocity images do suggest that a good portion of the signal represented birds, as targets were moving 10-15 kts faster than the prevailing winds (5kts at the surface, 15kts at 3000 feet). The general trajectory was more in-line with the winds aloft, as birds appeared to be moving inland as they headed south (heading WSW). The difference in magnitude between last night and the last two nights is most likely due to the lack of migration-ready birds after several nights of heavy migration. Migration conditions further south were relatively the same as up here, and migration was significantly heavier, indicating that more birds were ready to go down there.

The best birding this morning should be at inland migrant traps along the interior ridges and to a lesser-degree in the interior valleys. Locations along the Delaware river should also be good, and interior locations throughout PA should see an influx as well. For Cape May, the Delaware Bay shore would be the best bet for nocturnal migrant arrival, as the east winds should keep most of the birds off of the coast. I would expect only a trickle of birds at Higbee’s this morning. You can check the reports that Cameron Cox is posting after each morning flight here on Birdcapemay.org

Hopefully a few people got out to do some moonwatching last night, as per Mike Lanzone’s request (click here for the archived message) on the Night Flight Call email list.

Good Birding

David