National Overview

Birds were moving again last night, this time primarily across the Southern US and parts of the Southern Mid-Atlantic. Florida, in particular, appeared to have the highest densities of migrants heading up into the Georgia and points north. A flight from Cuba was also evident suggesting that some Caribbean migrants are making their way to the Continental US this morning (and I expect some trans-gulf migrants will be making landfall later today along the Gulf Coast). Western NY and PA also showed some good migration activity with birds heading in the expected NE direction. The Midwest was active but definitely on the lighter side of things which matches up with expectations this time of year. Now let’s take a closer look at New Jersey and Wisconsin and see what the radars tell us.

Below are the radar loops from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning

NEW JERSEY

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

Migration was very light over most of New Jersey last night under what appear to have been some stiff easterly winds. Both radars do show some birds coming up along the western Delmarva Peninsula and making their way along the Delaware River suggesting that any new concentrations of birds will likely be found in that zone. Overall, though, it looks like little in the way of migration for the Garden State last night.

WISCONSIN

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

Across Wisconsin last night we experienced another night of light action- again with the La Crosse radar showing about twice the reflectivity as the Milwaukee radar. Again, you’ll need to ignore the strobing effects in the radial velocity and just accept that the general movement is from S->N. Migration across Milwaukee was also from S->N unlike two nights ago when there was a considerable west wind pushing birds to the lake shore. Therefore, expect most birds to be dispersed across the landscape given that there were no weather phenomena nor physiographic barriers to concentrate birds this morning.

Looking ahead it appears that migration will continue through early next week when a strong frontal boundary begins to set up to our west. If the long-range forecast can be trusted, we should see some strong southerly flow setting up from Mexico to the Great Lakes by Monday or Tuesday of next week. In the meantime, though, we should see several more small pushes into the region… enough to keep us busy this weekend, at least!

Good Birding

David