The latest frontal system finally cleared the region last night, but not without causing a little ruckus and sending a few birds our way. 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.
If you could see the national composite from midnight last night you’d see some seriously hot-and-heavy migration over the Central Flyway from TX to The Dakotas. You’d also see some moderate-to-heavy migration over the Mississippi Flyway as far north as Kentucky, and then a moderate flight along a thin strip along the coast of the Eastern Flyway from Florida to Maine. Southerly winds accompanied the strong thunderstorms along the frontal boundary as it tracked over the Mid-Atlantic just before sunset last night, triggering a light-to-moderate flight of birds into and out of the region. While the density was on the lighter side, the switch in wind direction from S at sunset last night, to NW this morning, meant that a good portion of these birds were both pushed to the coast and forced to land today. Expect coastal locations to experience some concentrations of birds this morning, with Sandy Hook and Cape May being two logical destinations. Quantity will be lower than was experienced during previous big flights from last week, but diversity should be up considerably today.
Good Birding
David
p.s. Don’t forget to check out our carbon-neutral World Series of Birding team, The Scarlet Knight-Herons. We’re on Facebook, where you can add us as a friend and follow our bid for the coveted Cape Island Cup.
4 responses to “A coastal flight”
I had nothing during work this morning. Which is Barrington, Camden County. This is the first morning in awhile that nothing has been around migrant wise – no Yellow-rumpeds, Parulas, Black-throated Greens, etc. Stuff easy to hear and pick up on. I think everything moved on! Waiting for the next wave!
As far north as Kentucky, eh? *looks at schedule
Spent 3.5 hours at Sandy Hook. Variety much better today then Wednesday but low numbers. 15sp. of warbler with Yellow-Rumped the most numerous and an very early?
Blackpoll Warbler. There appeared to be a Blue Jay flight. 4 Scarlet Tanagers, female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, winter wren,Broadwing Hawk,. The winds turned NW which is not good for a raptor migration. Better days should be coming very shortly.
Lots of new migrants this morning… Yellow-rumps are in good numbers and Blackburnian Warblers and Baltimore Orioles have showed up in Kunkletown, PA. Many birds are increasing in number such as House Wrens, Prairie Warblers, Brown Thrashers.