Migration kicked into high gear last night as southwest winds across the region triggered a moderate to heavy flight across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. 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.
The winds aloft (~3000 ft.) were out of the south or southwest between 10 – 15kts last night while surface winds were mostly southerly. Some eastward drift could be seen on the Fort Dix, Dover and Upton, NY radars indicating that birds were flying in the upper-atmosphere last night (as should be expected). While migration was heaviest over New York State, we did see some of the densest migration this spring entering NJ from Virginia.
Since no weather was present to put birds down in any one location, bird concentrations are entirely dependent on geography with respect to the migrant “swarm”. Given this, expect spring hotspots to be hopping this morning, with Garret Mtn., Sandy Hook and Cape May all being worthy New Jersey destinations. Local breeders have been showing up as of late as well, so Belleplain will also be productive today as more arrivals are expected.
Good Birding
David
One response to “A nice push into the Mid-Atlantic!”
I recorded a few migrants last night–Chipping and Savannah Sparrow I believe. The sky was quiet until just after midnight when I heard the first call. Between 12 and 1AM I had about half a dozen discernible calls. This morning revealed more birds appear to have left Upper Passaic county than had entered. While I had my FOS sapsucker and Golden-crowned Kinglet, the big news was a dramatic drop in juncos and White-throated Sparrows. Likewise Garret today had fewer birds than had been reported over the last week with modest amounts of Pine, Yellow-rumped, and Palm Warblers, but one Winter Wren, and no waterthrushes. Obviously I could have missed some of these birds, but in general seems like more out than in for North Jersey last night.