Wow! (that about sums it up)
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.
This is pretty much what is to be expected after several nights of poor migration conditions: birds are chomping at the bit, looking for their window of opportunity, and when it comes, BAM! they GO.
Migration was heavy across the Mississippi and Eastern Flyways last night as the conditions were perfect with northerly winds (northwesterly over the mid-Atlantic) and mostly clear skies. The NY and NJ radars showed heavy migration throughout the night, peaking around 2:00am, and in some cases even continuing into the daylight hours. Given the westerly component to the winds in South Jersey, the dike at Higbee’s beach should finally get an excellent flight this morning after several very poor showings. It looks like some storms have moved into that area early this morning, which should also cause some localized concentrations of birds (but maybe not the most pleasant conditions for Cameron to count birds!). it definitely looks like Cape May is the place to be this morning.
The buoy off of Sandy Hook is reading north winds at 6kts, which although not ideal, should still mean a nice flight there as well. Inland sites will not be spared in this flight either, as there was a massive movement across the entire region and interior winds were mostly out of the north, so make sure to check those as well. Lastly, the line of storms affecting South Jersey are also affecting southern PA, so birders in PA should be checking all locations today, especially those which experienced precipitation between midnight and daybreak.
As always, I hope you’ll come back and share your experiences!
Good Birding
David
4 responses to “Massive flight last night”
Hard to drag myself away from Liberty State Park this am. Many birds at dawn and arriving continuously:
Phoebes and Peewees everywhere, and I believe a yellow-bellied.
Yellow-Rumps and Palms in big numbers
good diversity of Sparrows, but not ‘big’ numbers, including White-crowned, Lincoln’s and Junco.
Both Kinglets, and about 6 or 7 additional Warbler sp. (mostly singles), YB Cuckoo, Swainson’s Thrushes……..
big flight at Sandy Hook.
Largest numbers were rumps and phoebes. A very sizeable flight of blue headed vireos as well, big push of white-throated sparrows, kinglets.
around 15 or 16 species of warbler, including two Tennessees and three Nashvilles
Philadelphia Vireo
Lincoln’s, Swamp, and Savannah Sparrow
Bobolink
probably more I’m forgetting, and I’m sure others will have more to add later on.
-Brian
Major flight here in Maine, too. Huge push through Sandy Point – our southern Maine morning flight spot. It sounds like a huge flight at Monhegan Island as well. I’ve also heard a report that a massive flight occurred down at Kiptopeke on the Delmarva Peninsula as well.
http://maineoutdoorjournal.mainetoday.com/blogentry.html?id=15454
What a night (morning!)
-Derek
Only had an hour while walking the dog, but WOW! so many Black-and-white Warblers I could hardly count them (okay, so at least a dozen in my little walk) “zeet”s everywhere. Magnolias were also in high numbers (almost 1:1 with the B&W’s). I had a probable Bay-breasted but it never re-appeared. Other migrants were an unk. Empidonax flycatcher (looked like Traill’s- type) Am. Redstart, Com. Yellowthroat (high numbers), Ovenbird, LINCOLN’S SPARROW (first of season (FOS)), Swamp Sparrow (FOS), and dozens of Northern Flickers.
I wish I had more time to bird! I did notice some raptors soaring in the distance (towards the Sourlands) later in the afternoon, but they were too far off to ID.
Cape May did have an excellent flight today. It would be great if someone who birds there regularly would post their sightings here.
Here’s the latest from the Morning Flight and Hawk Watch:
http://www.birdcapemay.org/sightings/