National overview

Pre-sunset South Texas received some trans-Gulf migrants late yesterday afternoon, while sunset triggered migration across the southeastern US and New England. The Mid Atlantic and PA suffered another night of high-pressure-induced-migrant-shutout-fatgue, causing Drew to jump ship for Ohio and Vince to simply shake his fist at the sky over Cape May and say, “why, now that I have all the time in the world, am I being robbed of spring migration!?”. Dawn, on the other hand, finally picked up some birds in North Cackalacky as low pressure moved north and east over the Barbecue States. The Central Flyway was where all the big action was, as it lit up like Christmas after sunset (if Christmas colors were blues and greens). Migration in the west was heaviest along the Pacific coast but was evident throughout the mountainous west along with scattered precipitation.

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

Upper Midwest

Minnesota

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

Migration was heaviest from Texas to Minnesota last night, and both the Twin Cities and Duluth radars indicated as much. Heavy migration was evident over both stations after sunset with dBZ values in the 20-25 range throughout the night and early morning. Birds were heading due north in broad-front migration, meaning that they will be widespread across the region today. Hit the tried-and-true spring hotspots across the state for the best opportunities at high densities and diversity. Birders in the area will see more long-distance migrants (read: warblers) today!

Wisconsin

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

Migration over Wisconsin was again heavier in the west (check the La Crosse radar loop against the Milwaukee and Green Bay) and in the north, as birds continue to push up through the state. Birds did make their way into southeastern Wisconsin as well, but conditions were not as optimal as they were farther west… but that will change in the following nights. In the meantime birders in the northern half of the state will see an uptick in species diversity, especially in those long-distance migrants they’ve been waiting for. The south will see a net loss in density but should start to pick up some of the larger bodied migrants we appear to be missing, like larger numbers of Catharus thrushes, more grosbeaks, buntings, and tanagers (where the heck are all the tanagers!?). There was no weather present across the state to concentrate birds this morning, so hit the tried-and-true spring hotspots for your best bet and birds.

Iowa & Illinois

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

Migrant conditions were sub-optimal over much of IA and IL last night, although some birds did move over both of the radars depicted above. Migration was primarily on a SSE->NNW trajectory so conditions along the Mississippi River and west of Chicago (Palos Woods anyone??) should be best this morning.

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