National overview

Except for the Great Plains region, where winds were stronger and out of the south, much of the U.S. experienced either very light wind or northerly winds which are more conducive to southbound migration. Due to these widespread favorable conditions, we saw another night of migration from coast to coast with the heaviest movements east of the Mississippi and south of the Great Lakes.

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.

Duluth continues to be along the main axis of the heaviest migration this season, and last night was no exception. Check out the Duluth radar and see how birds arrive later in the night and really get pushed over the western point of Lake Superior this morning. Birders around Duluth and Superior WI should really check out migrant traps along the lakeshore this morning, including Park Point in Duluth and Wisconsin Point on the other side in Superior. Farther inland migration was a bit more diffuse although a similar pattern of late arrivals was apparent on the Twin Cities radar. Expect some new birds at Twin Cities migrant traps today although overall the birds will be more dispersed across the landscape than around Duluth.

Wisconsin

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

Southerly flow at sunset seems to have kept the majority of birds down last night, although all three Wisconsin radars did show some level of southbound migration despite the winds. I imagine it went something like this:

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher: “winds are out of the south tonight. I think I’m staying.”
Kirtland’s Warbler: “Aint nobody got time for that!”

Be sure to check out the exodus from the Lake Michigan shoreline last night (on the Milwaukee radar); very cool! Overall this pattern should translate to less lakeshore concentrations than in previous days and more diffuse birds overall throughout the region. A few new species may be present at local hotspots, but no significant concentrations are expected except maybe along the shrubby/wooded corridor at Wisconsin point.

Iowa & Illinois

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

Light and diffuse migration over both IA and IL last night as southerly winds kept all but the most intrepid travelers down on the ground. Expect bird density to have thinned out with this latest movement with only the most consistent migrant traps holding birds 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