A mix of calm surface winds and variable upper-level winds appears to have triggered a moderate flight into the Mid-Atlantic last night. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 4:30am this morning.

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

Both upper-level and surface winds varied across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic last night, making for some interesting patterns of migration activity. Moderate levels of migration were evident across most of New York state, and to a lesser extent, eastern New York. Migration over New Jersey was moderate, with most influx into the state coming from southern New York. Unlike last week, very little could be seen moving out of eastern Long Island and heading south along the Jersey coast. Across NJ the general trajectory was NW->SE, although winds were light enough not to cause any significant pileup along the coast.

Birding-wise, I would expect this flight to have little significant impact on the ground this morning. Lots of birds are already in the system, and so this event probably represents a little bit of turnover rather than a major shot-in-the-arm. Without any major weather to concentrate birds, hit the tried-and-true fall migrant traps today for your best chance at high densities. The next few nights look good for migration, and the winds are promising to become more of a factor as well, so stay tuned!

Good Birding

David