As we knock on the door of October, you have to expect the unexpected. 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.
Very little was moving for most of last night, but it appears that we did get a late push of birds on light westerly winds as the atmosphere changed. The interesting thing is that they came late, and they came right across from PA. I first noticed it on the composite image, where you can see the cold front (yes, now it’s a cold front, again!) move east from Pennsylvania across New Jersey. The reflectivity just looked suspicious here, so I checked the local radars, and sure enough there was a little burst of reflectivity on the backside of the front as it crossed into the Garden State. Light and variable winds don’t explain the shift in target direction depicted on the velocity images (switching to a NW->SE heading), which can then only be explained by birds! So we should see a light push of birds into southern New Jersey this morning, especially from Bringantine south. I’m having a hard time pinning down where I think would be good today, but hotspots from the NP Dredge Spoils to Cape May Point should be checked just to confirm whether new birds had arrived… I’m definitely interested in hearing about what you see out there!
This weekend is still shaping up to be excellent for New Jersey. Saturday looks like the best day so far, but a little shift in the tropical system on its way up the east coast could mean boom or bust for migration. I’ll keep an eye on it and update accordingly.
Good Birding
David
2 responses to “Thanks PA!”
A couple hours around the National Park dredge spoils in Gloucester County, NJ. A definite change here from my last visit! Stuff came in last night – this morning. More of a late fall mix, also. It was different also because my walk through the North Woods area on arrival yielded hardly anything. But an hour later walking back, a nice spread out flock. Where did that flock come from??
3 NORTHERN FLICKERS
1 EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE
4 EASTERN PHOEBES
8 BLUE JAYS
2 RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES
1 HOUSE WREN
3 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS
ROBINS – hard to count – very spread out, but more than my last visit.
1 PHILADELPHIA VIREO
7 RED-EYED VIREOS
1 TENNESSEE WARBLER
1 NORTHERN PARULA
1 MAGNOLIA WARBLER
1 BLACK-THROATED BLUE
4 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS
5 PALM WARBLERS
2 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS – both adult males.
1 ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK
10 CHIPPING SPARROWS
3 FIELD SPARROWS
6 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS
GOLDFINCHES
Per Don Freiday, on the CMBO Blog:
“A few birds were flying over in the predawn today (Wednesday), as this little front passed – I heard Chipping and Savannah Sparrows, Blackpoll and Yellow-rumped Warblers and American Redstarts migrating along Delaware Bay in pre-dawn, although only about a call a minute. Dave La Puma just told me the radar showed a late movement of birds, after the front made up its mind. And this just in – Tom Johnson reports a pretty special 5 Connecticut Warblers at Morning flight among 300 warblers so far, including 150 Northern Parulas, 70 Blackpolls, not to mention a Red-headed Woodpecker. Mike Crewe’s Wednesday Morning walk at Cape May Point State Park found the continuing Dickcissel plus a Cattle Egret at the hawk watch this morning.”