If you revisit yesterday’s post you’ll get 90% of today’s story. 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.
What was yesterday a cold front has now stalled out and become a stationary front draped across New Jersey. Therefore the sector of migration remained consistent over the last two nights, bringing heavy migration into the Southeastern US and moderate to heavy migration into the Mid-Atlantic. Looking at the local radars you can see birds heading SW->NE into the Delmarva, NJ and even parts of Eastern NY. Migration was considerably lighter over PA with the one exception being Eastern PA (getting a nice pulse of birds from the Washington DC area).
Some intense thunderstorms across NJ appear to have put some birds down over the region (thinned them out, really), but for the most part these storms seemed local enough that most birds pushed through. Additionally, the winds which were forecast to turn more westerly this morning have failed to do so, with the Cape May buoy still reading in at SSW, and the Sandy Hook buoy almost dead still at 1kt ENE. This means that less birds will be pushed to the coast this morning, also consistent with yesterday’s post. So as far as where to go this morning: if it was good yesterday it’ll probably be good today.
Looking ahead, this stationary front will eventually back up to the north as a warm front over the next 24 hours, and the precipitation boundary will deepen to our north creating more of a barrier to migration. We can expect more heavy migration into the Mid-Atlantic tonight with little northward movement into the Northeast where conditions have deteriorated. As the front moves eastward into Tuesday, expect the zone of migration to become much more narrow until only the extreme coastal areas are experiencing migration on Tuesday night. Again, the Mid-Atlantic should see a piling up of birds during this time when very little can make it into the Northeastern US. This will be an interesting scenario to watch unfold as it could mean excellent birding across parts of the Mid-Atlantic- so stay tuned to Twitter and woodcreeper.com for daily updates.
Good Birding
David
2 responses to “The floodgates remain open”
Hi David,
We had a great influx of migrants into the northern tip of manhattan last night. There were 7 new species of warbler as well as several notable passerines in the nearby park. The same is being reported from hotspots around NYC. More generally related, I recently noticed that Inwood Hill Park seems to be a pretty reliable spot to observe spring-time migrating Common Loons. I have seen 5 in the past month. It will be interesting to see how there northward movements correspond to shifting meteorological conditions. On a personal note I want to thank you for this incredible resource that you provide. I first learned of your site through a mutual friend of ours, Rafael Galvez. I am also a native South Floridian now birding the Tri-State area. I will attempt to include only those species whose numbers fluctuated in the past 24 hours or so – here’s the list:
Yellow warbler – 2
Northern Waterthrush – 1
Ovenbird – 7
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 20+
Palm Warbler – 14
Pine Warbler – 3
Northern Parula – 2
American Redstart – 1
Black and white Warbler – 10+
Black-throated Blue Warbler – 3
Black-throated Green Warbler – 2
Blue-winged Warbler – 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 3
Blue-headed Vireo – 7
Yellow-throated Vireo – 2
Warbling Vireo – 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak – 1
Orchard Oriole – 1
Baltimore Oriole (still nectar feeding) – 5
Gray Catbird – 3
House Wren – 1
Marsh Wren – 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Hermit thrush – 14
Eastern Kingbird – 5
Eastern Towhee – 8
Chipping sparrow – 4
Swamp sparrow – 2
Song sparrow – 1
White-throated sparrow – 13
Dark-eyed junco – 1
Barn Swallow – 1
Chimney Swift (heard)
Great Egret – 1
Fish Crow – 3
Brown-headed Cowbird – 7
American Gold Finch – 3
Location: Donaldson Park
Observation date: 4/25/11
Number of species: 36
Canada Goose 32
Mallard 10
Double-crested Cormorant 27
Turkey Vulture 1
Killdeer 2
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Ring-billed Gull 16
Mourning Dove 4
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 5
Eastern Kingbird 1
Warbling Vireo 1
Fish Crow 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 10
Tree Swallow 20
Tufted Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 1
House Wren 1
American Robin 40
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 40
Yellow Warbler 7
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 6
Chipping Sparrow 27
Savannah Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 6
White-throated Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Common Grackle 14
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
Purple Finch 1
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 4
House Sparrow 6