The Migration-train, that is. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:30am this morning. For reasons unknown to me, the radar crapped out around midnight last night, and didn’t come back online until around 2:00am, so there are a few images missing from the peak hours of migration in each of the animated loops below.
Frames are every 1/2 hour. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.
High pressure over most of the country east of the Mississippi has been giving birds the break they need to quickly make their way up the breeding grounds. Large movements into the Gulf states (TX, LA, MS, AL) and Florida have been consistent over the last two weeks. Additionally, during the last few nights the radar has indicated that the intensity of migration has increased in the central tier of states across this region of the country. Last night we saw a nice flight of migrants into the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast (up to northern NY), as the southerly flow continued for another evening.
The radar images confirm that most birds were headed in the traditional SW->NE direction, with some increased easterly movement due to the southwest wind component. Skies were clear last night, and thus in the absence of any weather, birds will be well dispersed across the landscape this morning. For the best chance at diversity and density, hit one of the spring migrant traps such as the northwest Delaware Bay shore, Garret Mountain, or Sandy Hook. In fact, of the three, I would probably head for The Hook given the west wind being reported from the local buoy. In the meantime, I’ll be hitting the Villas WMA before heading to work, but I eagerly await any reports from across the region to see whether this pattern we’re seeing on the radar pans out on the ground.
Good Birding!
David
4 responses to “More birds arriving on the m-train”
At aproxamatly 8:00 this morning the oak and maple trees filled up with Palm warblers,Yellow
rumps, ruby crown Kinglets and pheobes.
In Northern Rockaway TWP NJ,
They were all franticly feeding on black flies.
This was obviously a fallout situation.
Sandy Hook had a respectable flight this morning…mainly gnatcatchers and palm warblers..with a few other goodies-
a Sora Bill picked out hopping up the concrete steps of one of the bunkers
an adult white-crowned sparrow
a small handful of barn swallows
glossy ibis
and I feel like I’m forgetting something..
I’ve been enjoying your blog and using it to time my visits to Central Park – North End, NYC. Very early today, I enjoyed several FOS for me including a Black-and-White Warbler, Pine Warblers, Palm Warblers, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a Gray Catbird, a Field Sparrow and a Swamp Sparrow.
Keep up the great work!
Bill, thanks so much for the kind words! Mm glad to hear that you’re finding the site useful. If you’re still around, today should be an interesting one in Central Park. Sw wind clearly brought in some née birds overnight.
Cheers
David