It happened again last night, where building southwest winds along the east coast triggered moderate to heavy levels of migration into and out of the Mid-Atlantic. 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.

Unfortunately the NYC radar was down for most of last night, so I couldn’t post the radar loop this morning. Migration over Gotham, though, was similar to that of northeast NJ.

The latest cold front continued to push eastward last night causing increased southwest winds over the region turning west by morning. Densities over VA, the Delmarva and most of New Jersey were moderate to heavy especially considering how early it still is in the migration season. The velocity images indicate that many birds were pushed eastward on the westerly winds making coastal hotspots such as Cape May and Sandy Hook prime destinations this morning. The buoy off of Sandy Hook is currently reading WNW winds at 7kts which is always a good indicator that this site will be experiencing some return migration off of the east coast today (e.g. being in the Locust Grove at first light should pay off).

Cape May should also be good this morning as plenty of birds appear to have been blown eastward over the peninsula, and densities over VA and the Delmarva were sufficiently high. Otherwise the lack of precipitation in the early morning means that concentrations of birds elsewhere are less predictable, and more than likely most birds are spread across the landscape. As winds turn northerly this morning and heavy rains move over the region, expect little diurnal migration and deteriorating conditions in the field.

In short: go birding and go early, and when you get a chance, please come back and share your observations with us.

Good Birding

David