Alright! Now that was some pretty migration last night! 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.
First off, the national composite shows some heavy migration out of the northeast, especially from the SE shore of Lake Ontario. The radar from Maine as well was on fire, which makes me think that we can expect a nice report from my buddy Derek sometime today.
Okay, back to NJ… so last night skies were relatively clear and the winds at 3000 feet were light (5-10kts) and out of the NNW, making for ideal migration conditions across the region (a black-and-white warbler just sang outside my window). All radars indicated a heavy flight across the NE, and a moderate one across the mid-Atlantic (a sign that a whole lot more are on their way!). For NJ, the general flight trajectory was NNW->SSE, which will favor both inland and coastal locations this morning (inland because there was a large flight into the state from central NY, coastal because the westerly component to the wind will push birds to the coast, as well as the influx of birds from eastern New York arriving along the Jersey shore).
If you’re in the Cape May area, don’t skip out on the morning flight. I’m sure Cameron will be having a ball this morning, and probably be joined by some of Cape May’s finest. If you’re further north in the Garden State, then Sandy Hook would be a great pick this morning. The Sandy Hook buoy is showing light N and NW winds over the last 10 hours… hopefully someone is already lurking the Locust Grove as I type this.
Although my coverage of the area is minimal (limited to the regional composite) the flight from New York over the Pennsylvania border was quite impressive last night. If anyone visiting this site is birding that area, I’m sure other readers (me too!) would appreciate your reports from north and/or central PA.
Good Birding
David
2 responses to “The floodgates remain open!”
Yes, I was there, in the Locust Grove, before 7 am this morning. Migration was present, but it was light. Redstarts and B&W were the most numerous. Also present were ones and twos of no. waterthrush, no. parula, b-t blue, magnolia, prairie, a late yellow between me and a fellow birder). Vireos were scarce, except for the breeding population of white-eyed – a red-eyed and a yellow-throated (reported by others).
Other birders were around when I left, so it may be that more will be reported.
Not too much going on along the bayshore this morning (with the exception of Bobolink). There was a good flight in Cape May. From what I heard, not big numbers but good diversity.