National Overview

I hate to say it, but things are starting to look a little more ‘normal’ this morning. High pressure over the west coast triggered moderate to heavy migration from California to the Pacific NW while migration over the middle of the country was tempered by building northwest winds. The big frontal boundary extending from Texas to Ohio is marking the western boundary of heavy migration, with the heaviest movement of birds to the east of it. Heavy precipitation along the boundary may mean fallout conditions where birds are intercepted, especially across the Ohio Valley and Pennsylvania. Of course, you can read all about the local radar for these areas by following the BIRDAR links in the sidebar or at the bottom of this post.

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

Since I will be publishing “as I go” each morning you may see some incomplete posts throughout the early morning hours. Don’t worry- it’s coming!

Mid Atlantic

Delaware & New Jersey

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

Looking at the Mid Atlantic, migration was heavy through the region with the bulk of migrants pushing up around the Chesapeake Bay and over the Delaware river watershed. Looking specifically at the radars covering New Jersey you can see a strong migration signal after sunset with birds moving SW->NE turning more WSW->ENE into the early morning. This switch puts more birds lover Sandy Hook and Cape May by early morning, with the bulk of migrants still inland. With no precipitation to put birds down, hit the migrant hotspots throughout the state but especially the inland ridges such as Garret Mountain. Coastal traps should be productive as well today, so if you’re in that neck of the woods- go for it!

Upper Midwest

Iowa & Illinois

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

Things have slowed down over the Upper Midwest as northwest winds build in behind the front. As the front moves east by the end of the week, though, we’ll see things turn around. In the meantime a little northwest wind can’t keep all the birds down around here- and some decided to take to the sky last night. Migration was moderate in the first few hours after sunset but quickly shut down thereafter. Most birds appeared to be moving W->E which is probably a function of the wind more than of their intended destination. Expect some shuffling of the deck this morning but little change otherwise. One notable exception might be around the lake shore near Chicago where birds may be piled up due to the winds.

Wisconsin

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

See above for the general description, but for the most part migration was minimal last night. Along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan birders should find some nice pockets of migrants (especially on the Door Peninsula) as those birds which did migrate there were pushed to the lake. La Crosse showed a quick signal of something that might have been birds- but it was so short-lived and lacked significant velocity that I’m not entirely sure it wasn’t a mayfly emergence… anyone care to confirm or deny that? Otherwise birds are around from the last few weeks of migration, so get out there!

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 in other regions check-

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – The Northwoods BIRDAR by Max Henschell <- NEW!
New England – Tom Auer’s blog
Florida/SE – Badbirdz Reloaded by Angel and Mariel Abreu
PA/Ohio Valley – Nemesis Bird by Drew Weber
NW Ohio – Birding the Crane Creek by Kenn Kaufman
Arizona – Words About Birds by Tim Schreckengost <- NEW!
Pac NW – Birds Over Portland by Greg Haworth
Continental US – eBird BirdCast Forecast & Report by Team eBird