National Overview

Migration was hot and heavy across much of the U.S. east of the Rockies last night, and in fact, Trans-Gulf migrants who had started their journey two nights ago could be seen streaming into Texas and Louisiana as early as 2:00pm Central Time yesterday afternoon (you can see some images from the event on the latest eBird migration forecast page at http://eBird.org). This migration activity along the Gulf Coast continued through last night and many birds that were already in the south took a ride on the migration superhighway up into the central and northern reaches of the country. Southerly flow is anticipated to continue through tonight and tomorrow night so expect migration to follow a similar pattern and for more birds to make their way across the country into your local patch. It’s a great weekend to be a birder!

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

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!

Mid Atlantic

Delaware & New Jersey

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

Yeah Mid-Atlantic! Especially coastal New Jersey! Moderate to strong WSW upper level winds were in effect last night, pushing migrants to the coast as they headed north. The latest image this morning (~6:00am eastern time) shows birds offshore of Sandy Hook, between NJ and Long Island, NY. This bodes very well for Sandy Hook birders this morning, and is where I’d be heading if I were in the northern half of NJ today (of course, if I were in NYC, I’d be heading to Central or Prospect Parks… and since Doug Gochfeld is in Suriname right now, I’m sure I won’t have to hear about why Prospect is so much better  than Central 😉

Of course, if I were in NJ right now I’d most likely be in Cape May, and that’s a great pick this morning as well. The velocity image for the Dover radar shows most birds moving over the eastern Delaware Bay shore with a good number of birds passing right over the Cape May peninsula. It makes sense to think that birding conditions will be good at Cox Hall Creek WMA in The Villas neighborhood, and at Cape May Point as well.  Garret Mountain should also have new birds this morning, as should any other inland migrant traps… but my gut tells me the concentrations will be coastal today, especially the further north you go. Get out and bird – and when you’re tired, come back and tell us about it.

Upper Midwest

Wisconsin

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

Migrants make their way into the Upper Midwest! Moderate to heavy migration was evident for the Upper Midwest last night as winds took birds on an generally northbound trajectory. I say generally, because if you look at the velocity images for the Milwaukee and Green Bay radars, you can see some clear movement as winds switch around to the WSW over night and into the early morning. It does appear that this switch in the wind will concentrate birds along the Lake Michigan shoreline this morning, so birders in that area should definitely hit the lake shore parks (and based on some recent break-ins, be sure to lock your doors and don’t leave your expensive gear in your car).

Iowa & Illinois

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

Of course, it’s always helpful to check the radar to your south to see how many birds are headed your way… so here it is! Davenport IA showed some heavy migration initially headed due north for the Driftless Area, but later turning almost westerly as the strong SW winds built in. Chicago also showed a strong movement up along the Lake Michigan shoreline, further bolstering the lake shore bird community. Expect the birds moving out of Iowa to be distributed across the landscape this morning with some added influx into the Dane Co. / Madison region due to the wind shift. Get out and bird, and when you’re pooped, come back and tell us what you saw!

Minnesota

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

I just felt like we were leaving out our brothers and sisters to the north, so until someone up there volunteers to run their own radar site, here’s some eye candy for you folks of the North Woods. Judging by the radar, it looks as if this batch of new migrants have yet to make a big push into the northern reaches of Wisconsin, and into northern Minnesota. A light pulse could be seen after sunset last night, but it gets quickly shut down by precipitation and never really recovers after that (although there is another smaller pulse right after the storm passes… but it’s really small). Expect southwesterly flow to continue today, making it a fine day for some raptor watching. Hopefully Frank has a good day trapping up on the ridge. Good Birding!

As always, woodcreeper.com depends on YOU to report your sightings and be our ‘eyes on the ground’, so please come back and give us an idea of how we’re doing predicting birding conditions in your neck of the woods.

 

For migration updates covering other regions check-
Badbirdz Reloaded – Angel & Mariel cover Florida and the Southeast
Birds Over Portland – Greg blogs about the Pacific Northwest
Nemesis Bird – Drew and company give you the skinny on Pennsylvania
Tom Auer (aka The Skua) – Tom’s blog covers New England