The conditions along the Central, Mississippi and Eastern Flyways were all favorable for migration last night, as mostly southerly flow brought high densities of birds up out of the Yucatan and across most of the US by this morning. The most interesting weather feature, though, was the low pressure system spinning of the Northeastern US. This NE flow (over Nova Scotia), wrapping around to the North (over Quebec) and then finally West/Northwest (over New Jersey) seems to have acted as a funnel, pulling in the birds off of the Central and Mississippi Flyways and possibly bringing with it some oddities from points north (although I’m much less familiar with what is up there at this time). Throughout last night, flight-call enthusiasts reported hearing more Neotropical Migrants than have been reported thus far, indicating a massive eruption of the more distant wintering species (and supporting the idea that these two systems did act in some synergistic fashion). Also, at about 1:00am I did some moonwatching which indicated a heavy flight over Southern New Jersey early this morning. While it’s quite difficult to pick out species, I could have sworn I saw several flocks of small shorebirds in the mix with numerous landbirds. Herons were also present in good numbers, and were clearly the only taxa I feel comfortable calling against the moon. Birds appeared to be moving ENE across the moon, and based on the radar, the majority of birds entering the Garden State appeared to be headed for the southern half of the state. That said, with the westerly component to the winds, places such as Sandy Hook should also be checked.  Okay- I’m out the door; the birds are singing like mad outside the window!

Good Birding!

David

To find out what’s going on in Cape May- Don Freiday’s blog provides very timely updates: http://cmboviewfromthecape.blogspot.com/

… and we’re both Twittering about birds down here at https://twitter.com/woodcreeper and Don at http://twitter.com/CMBObirds