I’m pretty sure that this is the longest run I’ve seen over the last six years, without a break in migration. I’ll have to check my records, but my gut tells me yes (it also tells me that it’s hungry). 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.
Conditions were favorable for migrants across all three major flyways last night (Central, Mississippi, and Eastern), with our region being characterized by relatively clear skies and northeast winds around 10-15kts. A band of precipitation moved into the Delmarva and Southern New Jersey area early this morning, and while the winds associated with the disturbance continued to be out of the NE, the Fort Dix an Dover radars indicate that the weather did cause some localized fallout conditions in South Jersey (more on that below). The NYC radar indicated light to moderate migration heading in a general ENE->WSW direction, while of the three local radars posted, the Fort Dix showed the greatest density of birds (all of which were heading SW). Dover also indicated some exodus out of New Jersey, heading in a SW direction, but the density leaving was clearly less than what was entering southern NJ from the north.
Probably the most interesting development, though, was the apparent fallout event along the line of precipitation across South Jersey. While not a very big fallout, it was still apparent from the radar that birds stopped migrating as they hit precipitation en route. Judging by the radar, it looked like the zone of concentration should extend ESE from Philly across New Jersey. The area around Pennsville, and points south along the Delaware River and Bay, look like great possibilities this morning. If you have a local birding location in that general area, I’d love to hear back from you about whether you noticed high densities of birds today. As with most flights on NE winds, inland locations will be favored today. Hit the interior ridges for passerines this morning!
Good Birding
David
One response to “The floodgates are still ajar: more migrants over the eastern US”
Well, I don’t hit Salem County in Sept. for fall warblers. You need just the right conditions for flocks down there. And sure enough, David had them! I checked my DeLorme and noticed how close Supawna Meadows and Abbot Meadows are to Pennsville. Alas, Thursday is a later day at work. I should have started at Supawna Meadows, but didn’t as I know some areas at Abbot’s Farm for migrants. I wasted time….. some stuff was here, but the good stuff and the quantity were at Supawna which I actually didn’t start birding until 9:30AM after a short walk from the parking lot. That’s how late I was down there. Started at 8:00AM at Abbot’s.
Some numbers – nothing stll flying around at these late times:
3 NORTHERN FLICKER – early for me for noticing movements and not locals, so am not sure if true migrants.
4 EASTERN WOOD PEWEES
1 YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER
1 ALDER – no it didn’t call.
1 GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER
1 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER
12 CEDAR WAXWINGS
1 GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER
5 PARULAS
2 MAGNOLIA WARBLERS
1 CAPE MAY WARBLER
1 BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER
1 PRAIRIE WARBLER
1 BLACK and WHITE WARBLER
7 REDSTARTS
15 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS
1 BLUE GROSBEAK
15 or so AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES
Most of this stuff was at Supawna Meadows which recall I hit last unfortunately!