I need to get some rest before the 24-hour marathon, so I’m posting this on Friday night instead. Winds have begun to shift from due west to northwest, which is triggering a bit of migration over southern NY and all of New Jersey. Most birds are heading southeast and some can be seen getting pushed off of the NJ coast already. The flight is much lighter that last night, and still considerably lighter than the birds migrating to our south, but there are some birds moving overhead nonetheless. Tomorrow morning (Saturday) should see concentrations of birds along the coast with less birds in the north than in the south (little moving out of eastern NY). Most of the northeast is NOT experiencing migration tonight so those birds will be departing tomorrow night and arriving on Sunday morning, again on northwest winds.
Good Birding!
David
3 responses to “Need some sleep… here’s the outlook”
Sandy Hook had less birds today but the LeContes Sparrow was awesome giving great views to at least 30 people at one point. A Dickcissel was also very cooperative sitting on a roof and in vegetation.
There were 2 more Dickcissels as flyovers. Yellow-rumped WA were the main bird today and sparrows were well represented with majority being White Throats. Purple Finch were seen by others. Brown Creeper and Winter Wreen and Hermit Thrush also seen today.
Cape May was WAY better than last weekend when the expected huge migration had everyone on their toes! I went with little expectations today but the raptors were everywhere and constant all day, fairly low too. During the latter part of the day 3-4ish, there were constant streams of kestrels coming down the beach. I saw more harriers and accipiters than I’ve probably ever seen there, good #s of Broadwings, tails, Ospreys, Eagles, Peregrines and Merlins too. A couple Shoulders too. Days like today is what Cape May is known for! Don’t know how the morning flight was, but when I started at Higbee this morning the sky was filled with accipiters. Saw a few Purple Finches there too. Lots of Red-breasted Nuthatches at the State Park.
Interesting… last weekend was awesome! And yesterday was one amazing morning flight. Everyone’s perception of “good” and “great” are subjective, but I can assure you that many people on their toes last weekend, were back on their heels as birds whipped overhead last Saturday morning. Today’s raptor flight was excellent- the best so far this season- but still not “epic” but any stretch. Any day you can get that many raptors streaming overhead, though, is a ton of fun! You can read about the morning flight from today, as well as all previous days, here:
http://cmboviewfromthefield.blogspot.com/
Tomorrow should be great too, with all of the birds heading this way- but the winds during the day might truncate the raptor flight… either way, it’ll be awesome to watch it unfold from one spot for 24 hours.