I was scouting in the wee hours this morning so couldn’t get the radar up in time. Unfortunately that’s going to be the case for the next two mornings- so I’ll try and move to a night-post format until after the Big Day on Saturday. Here’s the radar from sunset last night until 5:00am this morning.

Frames are every 1/2 hour. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.

 

High pressure over most of the southeast and Mid-Atlantic triggered another push to the north. Heavy migration was apparent heading up into New York State and beyond. Those birds heading across NJ appear to be heading more inland although there did appear to be a late push to the NE over Northern NJ last night. I didn’t see what the upper-level winds were doing last night so it’s hard to tell whether it was wind-driven or not- but either way birds did spread out over the northern half of the state. Migration was heaviest, though, over NY State which is consistent with our being past the peak of spring nocturnal migration. Oh how quick it comes and goes!

For the next few nights we have the potential for migration across the region with south winds forecast in the upper atmosphere and southeast winds at the surface. The mix of winds will mean that even coastal locations will see some new birds while the bulk of the migration will continue to head NNW. This should favor migrant hotspots from central to western NJ on Saturday. Looks like precipitation will strike South Jersey sometime in the day on Saturday but should be restricted to the south until later Saturday night.

Good Birding

David