Birds were on the move last night, especially over the Northeastern US, with some decent numbers entering into the Mid-Atlantic region this morning. Here’s the radar from 6:00pm last night through 6:00am this morning. Below you can also find my results from this morning’s ground truthing at Garret Mountain.

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

Migration was evident last night across the Northeastern US and Mid-Atlantic, with most birds following the NE->SW winds. This means that most birds will be dispersed across the inland locations this morning, but in areas experiencing heavy rain overnight could also mean high concentrations of birds. Central PA should be hopping this morning, as there appeared to be a high influx of birds from across the northern border with New York. Inland ridges in New Jersey should also be good, as should migrant traps on both sides of the Delaware River. It was with this idea that Derek Lovitch and I set out to Garret Mountain early this morning (and hence, why it took me so long to post the actual radar).

I’m not used to birding Garret in the fall, but I figured there was a good chance birds would be arriving there and sticking around, given the combination of birds in the air and some heavy precipitation overnight. While not a mega fallout by any stretch, it did appear that many birds came in last night, most notably were the numerous Hermit Thrush encountered in our 2-hour loop (20!). White-throated Sparrows were common (100+), both on the ground and in the trees (I usually consider White-throats in the tops of trees to be a sign of new arrivals), as were Song (20+) Chipping (30+) and Swamp (10+). We also had two Blue-headed Vireos at the SW corner of Barbour Pond, six Eastern Phoebes, and a smattering of both Ruby-crowned (12) and Golden-crowned Kinglets (20+) throughout the park. Yellow-rumped Warblers (100+) were the most common warbler species throughout the park, but we did also turn up a two Palm Warblers around the pond loop, and two Northern Parulas up on Wilson Ave. In a nutshell, it was wet, windy, and definitely birdy.

Good Birding

David