In an attempt to get the radar posted as quickly as possible, I will be publishing “as I go” each morning. Therefore you may see some incomplete posts throughout the early morning hours (5-6am Central; 6-7am Eastern Time). We’ll test out this method for a few weeks and see how well it works… your feedback, of course, is most welcome!

National Overview

With a cold front dipping down over the Upper Midwest and precipitation building in the east, the zone of optimal migration condition became evident last night across the Central Flyway from Texas to North Dakota. Migration was evident throughout the Southeast and parts of the Mid Atlantic as well, but densities were lower and coverage was much spottier than the more western counterparts. Light migration along the frontal boundary over the Ohio Valley and Mid Atlantic may result in some concentrations this morning as migrating birds put down when faced with heavy precipitation, but the low densities suggest the fallout potential is minimal.

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

New Jersey (Mid Atlantic)

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

Moderate migration into the Mid Atlantic last night appears to have put a nice pulse of birds into the Washington DC area this morning. Anyone in that area experiencing rain between midnight and daybreak should probably poke around their local patch to see what might be around. New Jersey, while not getting the lion’s share of this migration event, did have some movement over the state throughout the night and many of these birds were put down by precipitation before 2am. Densities should be higher in the south and places such as the Delaware Bay shore and Cape May (to a lesser degree, but probably magnified by the restricted land area) should definitely be checked this morning. Again, if you experienced heavy rain after midnight, you should consider poking around your local patch for new birds this morning.

Wisconsin (Upper Midwest)

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

I meant to have the Green Bay radar downloaded as a supplement considering the Milwaukee radar is still down, but forgot to edit the download script…  so we’re stuck with La Crosse as our only Wisconsin radar for today! Not much happening over Cheeseland, with more northerly winds last night (although they’ve turned southerly as of 5:00am), especially at higher altitude (10kts NE @ 3000 ft). Looking at the La Crosse radar there did appear to be a small pulse of activity in the southwest quadrant but it was relatively low density and pretty short-lived. Otherwise things were quiet around the state while migration continued in earnest to our west where conditions were more favorable. Expect birding conditions today to reflect yesterday’s with the chance for some shifting and shuffling of the birds around based on optimal foraging habitat.

Good Birding,

 

David