Late last night we experienced the passage of the most recent cold front, which now sits just southeast of New Jersey. Today that front will return to the region as a warm front. If perfectly timed, this event can have great effects on birding conditions. Last night was not one of those times. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Northwest winds behind the front did trigger some migration over New York State, as evinced by regional composite animation. Most of these birds were heading on a N->S trajectory, sending them into Pennsylvania and, to a much lesser extent, Northwestern New Jersey. From sunset through midnight the frontal system was moving across New Jersey bringing with it strong southerly flow and a string of thunderstorms. Only after the passage of the front did we see a min-migration event which appears to have taken place mostly in the northern half of the state. This should have delivered some new birds to the southern half of the state this morning. Winds at Sandy Hook are WNW this morning which would normally mean a good day at The Hook if there was a flight from Eastern NY. From what I can see, the flight from Long Island was minimal at best, so it will be interesting to see if the birding conditions are any good today. For Cape May I would expect an small influx of new birds to be apparent today. Birds were clearly moving down the state late last night, and easterly winds were absent in the latter half of the night. Otherwise the interior migrant traps in Central and Northern New Jersey should be good today.

Given the light north winds forecast for this morning, we should expect to see an early hawk flight today before southerly flow shuts it down around noon. The next big flight should occur Friday or Saturday night, depending on how fast the next cold front can get here.

Good Birding

David