Northwest winds across the NE and Mid-Atlantic triggered another night of heavy migration into and out of 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.

“Migrant Clearance Sale through the end of October: Everything Must Go!”

It’s that time of year again, folks. Diversity of long-distance migrants is dwindling, and that of short-distance migrants is on the rise. Winter staples such as Yellow-rumped Warbler, White-throated Sparrow, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Dark-eyed Junco are all arriving in ever-increasing numbers. It is a great time to be afield, though, as total diversity can be quite high and personally, I love the Sparrow Days of Fall!

As for migration, most of last night’s flight was on NW winds which means coastal locations in NJ will hold birds this morning. Cape May is an obvious choice, and a nice morning flight should be expected today. Sandy Hook, on the other hand, is a bit less predictable. The buoy off of Sandy Hook showed winds wavering between N and NE. North winds are okay, while Northeast winds tend to push birds back inland, off of The Hook. Given the number of birds moving over from Long Island this morning, I’m inclined to say that Sandy Hook will be good, at least through the early morning hours. If you have the opportunity to go birding today, but can’t make it to the coast, you’re probably in pretty good shape anyway. Inland sites should hold plenty of birds today as well, as the influx of new birds from NY and PA was quite high. Also, central PA birders should be on the lookout for high densities of birds at their local migrant traps.

Good Birding

David