I’m on the road this weekend working the Galveston Featherfest with my buddy Jeff Bouton (Leica Sport Optics). Below you’ll find the radar loops for the Texas coast and western Louisiana, along with a little interpretation. If you’re in the Galveston area, be sure to come by and visit us in the Leica Sport Optics booth where we’ll be displaying the live radar feed and talking about migration across the region (and get your hands on some pretty sweet glass!). If you’re looking for the Midwest radar you can find it in the post below this on. Thanks for stopping by!

 

National overview

The front continues to push eastward and shrink the zone of migration into the Southeastern US. Some light migration was also apparent over south Texas, where strong northwest winds have slacked off to fairly calm and variable, and in the west where southerly flow triggered migration across all coastal states.

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

Western Gulf Coast

Texas

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

Louisiana

Last night saw some migration into South Texas via Brownsville and points south. Looking at the velocity images for Brownsville and Corpus you can see that these birds were headed NNE along the Gulf Coast, typical of Circum-Gulf migration (as opposed to Trans-Gulf arrivals which we would see later in the day if at all). Migration was very light over the Lake Charles radar with most movement continuing to the east as well. Light southerly winds over the eastern Yucatan last night should have triggered some Trans-Gulf migration out of that region, although more northerly winds just to the west will have precluded a major exodus out of Mexico. Stopover sites along the eastern gulf coast may see an influx of Trans-Gulf migrants this morning while those on the Western Gulf will likely only see birds as a result of last night’s Circum-Gulf migration.

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.

Good Birding,

David

For migration updates in other regions check-

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula - The Northwoods BIRDAR by Max Henschell
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
Pac NW - Birds Over Portland by Greg Haworth
Continental US - eBird BirdCast Forecast & Report by Team eBird