woodcreeper

Hurricane Earl is making its way up the eastern seaboard, but far enough offshore so it’s only packing some quick showers and tropical-storm force winds for New Jersey. The general circulation of the storm, along with the cold front approaching to our west, have kept most birds from moving over the last two nights. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:30am this morning.

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

With the high southerly winds aloft and still a fair amount of “aerial plankton” in the atmosphere (pollen, dust, insects, etc.) a quick view of the radar might suggest some bird activity. In fact, there is a little southbound signal at the periphery of the NJ radar images, raising the possibility that a few birds are moving south. I’m still not entirely convinced of this, though. Regardless, the southbound reflectivity at high altitudes represents a tiny fraction of the radar sample space, and therefore the detection of these birds would be highly unlikely this morning. Nope, for the most part expect some local shifting of birds, but otherwise no new migrants arriving en masse. Now onto storm birding.

It looks like Earl will bring northeast winds to New Jersey as it passes parallel to the coast. The highest winds and rainfall should occur around midday, and taper off through the afternoon, with the wind then turning northwest and remaining so into tomorrow morning. Storm birding should be best while the winds are northeast, as that would be the most likely direction to bring birds toward land. High and low tides will be best bets for finding resting terns on the beaches, so find yourself a nice spot out of the wind to scan the shoreline around those times. You can find your local tide tables at SaltwaterTides.com.

With northwest winds on tap tonight for New Jersey and the northeast coast, we could see a push of migrants into the area overnight. Unfortunately the winds over most of the northeast will still be out of the west-southwest tonight, limiting any major influx into the region tomorrow. Still, it doesn’t take a whole lot to jump-start the birding conditions on the ground, so check the twitter feed tonight for updates, and check back tomorrow morning for the whole run-down.

In the meantime, Good Birding, and be SAFE out there today!

David

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Winds finally turned southwesterly last night, effectively shutting down the nocturnal flight that had persisted for the last ten nights prior. Right now the rest of the week is looking hard to predict given the uncertainty of Hurricane Earl. If you believe the National Weather Service, we should see some strong northwest winds on Friday night which could trigger some migration over the region. The question will be whether enough of these winds reach NY and southern Canada in order to bring birds down into the Mud-Atlantic. It’s possible that they wont, in which case we’ll simply see an exodus of birds out of here… we’ll have to keep an eye on that low spinning in the Atlantic!

In the meantime, birds are around and they’re most likely moving into more optimal foraging habitat- so head for your favorite  birding location today and see what’s around.

Good Birding
David

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Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Well, things have finally thinned out a bit. Given the all-out marathon of good migration conditions that had persisted for the better part of ten nights, I’m not complaining… we could use a break. Winds have finally turned around to the southwest over most of the mid-Atlantic, and will persist to strengthen out of the west and southwest throughout today and tomorrow, and possibly through Friday. That said, the radar did indicate a pulse of birds entering New Jersey overnight last night, with the highest activity visible on the NYC and Fort Dix radars. The Dover radar, on the other hand, showed very little southbound traffic since winds had already switched by sunset over the Delmarva. That pattern suggests that more birds have entered the state than had left overnight, so expect to see some more birds around at your local fall hotspot this morning. Here I go with my broken record…

The Sandy Hook buoy is, once again, reading WNW at 4 kts, and given the bird activity leaving eastern NY last night, I would expect another day of migrants at The Hook this morning. The Cape May Ferry buoy is reading no-wind, which means that any birds engaged in morning flight today will probably be all over the place and not concentrated right along the bayshore where the count is located. With southwest winds on tap for later today and the next few days, we can only figure something interesting will show up at this hotspot for fall vagrants.

Otherwise birds will be dispersed across the landscape today with little concentration in any one area. So if you have the luxury of doing some birding today, your best bet will be to head for the fall migrant trap near you.

There is some interesting weather on the horizon, and when I get a free moment later today I’ll post about it.

Until then, Good Birding!

David

p.s. One last thing- the Cape May Hawkwatch officially begins today- so if you find yourself down this way, stop by and say hello to our returning research staff member Melissa Roach, along with our team of naturalists whose names I will be sure to learn in short-order! (correction: Now we can ALL learn their names! http://cmboviewfromthecape.blogspot.com/)

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Here we go again (and again, and again, and again…)! Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

High Pressure… it’s the autumn gift that keeps on giving. As you can see from the regional composite, birds took to the sky once more last night under the influence of light to moderate northwesterly winds (at 3000-feet). Surface winds were all over the place at sunset last night, with some out of the south, and others out of the west. It just goes to show that you have to check the winds at altitude in order to predict a migration event… somehow the birds seem to know what’s going on up there! Judging from the radar, migration was heaviest over the coastal states with densities decreasing as you move westward. The overall direction of migration appears to have been NW->SE for the first half of the night, switching to more N->S into the morning hours (and NE->SW over NJ, which is also the orientation of the state itself). Winds at the Sandy Hook buoy are reading WNW at 4kts this morning, while Cape May is reading due north. This general wind pattern suggests good morning conditions along the north coast, as well as another generally good morning for fall migrant traps across the state. Chimney Rock, in Central NJ, should have some woodland birds making their way down the ridge today, and the Cape May morning flight should also continue to produce new birds and great photo opportunities this morning. On that note, be sure to check out the awesome photos and essays on the CMBO blog:

http://cmboviewfromthecape.blogspot.com/

and the tallies from the seasonal research (rife with photos, as well):

http://cmboviewfromthefield.blogspot.com/

Okay- now get out there and bird!

Cheers,

David

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I was just checking out the weather forecast (and keeping an eye on Earl) and noted that the winds should remain out of the northwest over the next two nights, bringing more birds to the region on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Winds are expected to turn southwest on Wednesday which will effectively shut down migration until Friday. As Earl makes its way up the east coast, though, things will quickly shape up for another series of migration events beginning as early as Friday night. Interestingly, the wind models suggest that the main source of birds for the weekend events will be to our west-northwest, unlike this past week where most birds came from our north or northeast. I’d be interested to know how everyone thinks this might play out in terms of species showing up over the weekend.

Good Birding,

David

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Looks like I missed my alarm this morning! Either way, a quick glance at the radar and wind plots suggests a similar scenario to yesterday, so check the post from then for a general synopsis. Basically, birds continue to move south with no weather present to concentrate them in any particular locale. Fall migrant traps will be best, but otherwise birds will be dispersed across the landscape.

Good Birding!
David

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What started off as a slow August has really ramped up to full speed heading into September. Last night was the (wait, I need to go count…) seventh(!) consecutive night of migration over the region, with the last three being moderate to heavy in density. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

In terms of magnitude, last night was clearly not as heavy as the last two. The upper-level winds which had been northwesterly for several nights, had now gone slack, westerly, or even south (although very light). Still, in most cases winds appear to have been light enough and the limiting factor last night was probably the availability of migration-ready birds.

Looking at the individual radars we can see a general N->S flight over New Jersey last night, with a touch of west wind probably pushing birds a tad to the coast. Even so, I would expect most migrants to be well dispersed across the landscape today since the westerly component was quite light, and no significant portion of birds appeared to be over water throughout the night and into the morning. As it has for the last two mornings, the Sandy Hook buoy is reading west winds again! What a perfect late-August they’re having out on The Hook. Things should be birdy there today as well. Again, tried-and-true fall hotspots will be the best bet for today, with the Higbee dike probably going to produce another nice flight.

Thanks again to everyone for posting their observations. it’s great to be able to compare the local variation across NJ and the mid-Atlantic as a whole. Please keep ‘em coming!

Good Birding

David

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The floodgates are indeed open. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

While densities across most of the region were apparently lower than on Thursday night/ Friday morning, migration was clearly in effect across the eastern seaboard last night. The exception to this was, of course, Maine and New England which had not experienced particularly high levels of migration in previous nights (and hence were still in a “holding pattern” until last night). Overall, though, migration was hot and heavy- with some 20 dBZ readings apparent at most locations (this is about as dense a reading as birds will give on radar).

With winds very light and northwesterly at 3000 feet, and variable at the surface, birds were pretty much on a N->S trajectory across the region. Expect new arrivals at most fall hotspots today with little concentrating except for at the most extreme locations (the morning flight at Higbee’s, again, should be good for this). With the heavy movement out of Long Island, and buoy readings off of Sandy Hook still showing west winds, expect The Hook to be good this morning as well. Otherwise we’re on tap for a raptor flight today, should some be working their way down the pipeline.
I’m off for a couple hours at the dike, where Vince Elia is filling in for Tom Johnson. Should be fun!

Good Birding

David

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Last night the winds along the eastern United States were light and primarily out of the north. Over the Northeastern US and mid-Atlantic we saw mostly northwesterly winds turning north by morning, which appears to have triggered the heaviest migration to-date this August. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Well, I think I can limit my analysis to a few sentences since the gist of it all is that there were LOTS of birds moving last night and they did so pretty much across the board. Both the Fort Dix and Dover radars suggest migrating birds moved on a general NNE->SSW trajectory, which is typical for autumn migration over New Jersey. Some eastward drift was apparent early in the night (when winds were more westerly), and the 5:00am radar suggests that a number of birds were still over water in the early morning hours (some of which was probably drift, others are likely a result of birds leaving Long Island throughout the night).

Influx into New Jersey from the north (Albany radar), northeast (Upton radar) and Northwest (Binghamton radar) were all apparent, suggesting a general increase in migrants across the entire landscape. Interestingly, the winds on the Sandy Hook buoy are reading WNW this morning, which should bode well for that great birding location, while those at the Cape May ferry are registering ENE, a good sign for the morning flight at Higbee’s.  Today should be one of those days when you can hit your local fall migrant trap and have a good day, or make the trek to the morning flight at Higbee’s and see what a really good August flight has to offer.

On that note, I hope to see you out there!

Good Birding

David
(p.s. thanks to Sandy and Simon for their reports yesterday, and to the folks at CMBO/NJAS (Don Freiday, Mike Crewe, Tony Leukering, Tom Reed, and Tom Johnson, to name a few) who are updating their blog and research results daily. To Everyone: If you do get out in the field today, any groundtruthing you can provide would be excellent!)

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1. The wind forecast (NW at sunset, N during the night, NE by morning… see the circular wind plot graph)
2. Tomorrow is the day after the passage of a cold front (CF+1 on the graph)
3. Most birds are recorded within the first hour-and-a-half after sunrise (see bar graph)

[View with PicLens]

Figures from Wiedner, D., P. Kerlinger, D. Sibley, P. Holt, J. Hough, and R. Crossley. 1992. Visible morning flight of neotropical landbird migrants at Cape May, New Jersey. The Auk 109:500-510.

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Well, after two nights of sub-optimal wind conditions to our north, things finally shaped up for widespread nocturnal migration last night. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Upper-level winds appear to have been the key to last night’s migration, with most stations reporting a shift from WSW to WNW in the hours around sunset. The radar indicated moderate to heavy migration across the Great Lakes region, with decreasing densities moving northeast into New England (where winds failed to come around). Enough birds made it out of New York, though, to give New Jersey and Pennsylvania a real shot in the arm today! Looking at both the Fort Dix and Dover radar loops you can see heavy migration throughout most of the night with birds being funneled down to the east-southeast. This will definitely favor coastal hotspots this morning, and Sandy Hook, Island Beach State Park and Cape May should all be birded at first-light. If you can’t get to the coast, inland sites should also be good this morning. The sheer number of birds moving through the pipe last night should ensure turnover at most sites, and any fall migrant traps along the Delaware River, or throughout the interior state, could hold birds this morning.

The buoy at Sandy Hook is reporting west winds at 7 knots, and given the density of birds heading out of Long Island last night, this will likely be a good fall day for The Hook. I would expect the morning flight at Cape May to be good this morning as well. Judging from the radar it looks like most birds dropped out of the sky in the early morning hours (around 2:00am) which is pretty typical especially early in the season. Still, with the number of birds apparently pushed to the east, I would expect some birds to be coming off of the water back towards land in the early daylight hours. Any reports of birds behavior (direction of flight in relation to the wind, observations of birds coming in off of the water, or coming down from high altitude, etc.) would be most welcome- so make sure you stop back and let everyone know what you saw!

Good Birding

David

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Tonight’s weather forecast is looking interesting. Right now the forecast is calling for light southwest winds at the surface over Southern NJ, turning northwest around 7:00am tomorrow. That alone tells us little, because most of the birds migrating down the eastern seaboard will be doing so at much higher altitudes. The real story, then,  lies in the upper-level winds (at about 3000 feet) which are forecast to turn uniformly northwest from the Great Lakes to the Delmarva by 8:00pm. If this happens we should expect to see birds across northern New York taking to the air after sunset tonight and continuing on a NW->SE trajectory. That would put them on course for southeastern New Jersey by morning. I, for one, will be at the dike at Higbee’s tomorrow for what will probably be a nice early fall morning-flight.

Good Birding!

David

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A combination of wind direction and wind speed appears to have minimized the number of birds migrating over the northeast last night. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 6:00am this morning.

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

While the wind direction was relatively favorable across most of the Central and Eastern Flyways last night, strong northeasterly flow from the low pressure system over New England restricted the number of birds heading out over the northeastern US. Those birds that did migrate out of central and western New York, did so on a strong NE->SW trajectory, bringing them further inland into PA rather than into NJ. Migration was evident over New Jersey as well, although a similar NE->SW trajectory was also evident for most of the night. Some adjustment to N->S did occur later in the night, as winds subsided and turned more northerly.

For New Jersey, expect central hotspots to be favored this morning with less densities located along the east and west coasts. Given the bit of shift from west to east early this morning, I would expect so see some morning flight down at Higbee’s today. Here’s to a non-boring morning on the dike, Tom!

Good Birding

David

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So Pete Dunne came into my office the late last week and asked me whether I could see the Mauricetown swallow roost on the radar. He monitors this location regularly, and often speaks of the spectacle of tens of thousands of birds taking to the air after sunrise. I knew I had seen roosts before on radar- but hadn’t looked for this one specifically, so I dug through the last few mornings of radar images to see what I could come up with. Low and behold, the roost was VERY active on the radar, and not only that- there appear to be several others nearby! Here’s a loop from August 19th:

I have labeled the roost with a red arrow, and added two other red arrows for separate areas that appear to be roosts as well (Mauricetown is the farthest east of the three). I’m not sure of the species composition at the other two sites, but the signature looks good for a swallow roost. Alternatively, it could be a heronry, as I’ve seen similar signals from such down in Florida. If you have any first-hand evidence of the species present at either site, please add a comment to this post. You’ll also notice a yellow arrow that pops up around 6:30am, pointing out an eastward strobe. This is caused by sunrise, when the sun breaks the horizon and “hits” the radar directly. You’ll see this on radar at both sunrise and sunset, and I find it fascinating to watch how quickly the birds take to the sky in nocturnal migration after seeing the westward strobe flash across the radar screen.

Below are two more animations, without the arrows, from August 22nd and 23rd. Thanks to Joe Pylka for bringing the WHYY article to my attention, via Jerseybirds. These animated loops span 6:00 to 6:30am.

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a self fulfilling prophesy I suppose…

woke up late, radar didn’t download, had guests in town, can’t find my glasses… is it Monday again!?

Birds were on the move last night- not a huge flight, and definitely heaviest over the southeast US, but still some influx into the mid-Atlantic.

Good Birding!

David

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(anyone catch the reference? hint: my third concert, ever.)

I just realized how similar running this website is to an exercise regime… slow to start, many moments of doubt, thoughts of “I really don’t have much time for this now…”, followed by a few days dusting off the cobwebs and updating computer scripts to get it running again, and then (finally) getting into a groove and feeling totally out of sorts when I eventually miss a day for this or that pressing issue. If only I could follow through as well at the gym!

So here we go (it really is “we”, you know, contrary to the title of this post) again… Fall 2010!

Last night wasn’t the first flight of the fall, as some nocturnal migration has occurred since late July, and some nice flights have happened during the last two weeks. Last night we had a the tail end of a spinning low pressure system (see the regional composite) whip over the mid-Atlantic, bringing with it southwesterly winds late in the evening. As the low moved into New England, though, the winds on the backside of the low began to reach the region; starting off very light and slack, and picking up out of the northwest.  This wind switch is what triggered last night’s flight, which you can see by clicking the thumbnails below and viewing the animated loops.

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

The regional composite gives you a nice overview of the migration event,  showing the low pressure system covering most of the Northeast with precipitation. The NY radar indicates no migration last night, but both of the NJ radars suggest a light to moderate flight on a mostly NW->SE trajectory.

This flight direction should favor fall migrant traps across central and southern NJ today, and anytime we have westerly winds on a southbound flight, the migration funnel always favors Cape May, NJ. Sandy Hook is most likely in the “migration shadow” due to the lack of migration out of the eastern NY area.

So, even though I’ve started updating woodcreeper once more, there is little doubt that things are going to change around here. I’m at a new job, work is really busy, and my wife and I have another kid on the way (due in less than a month!). So, in the interest of keeping everyone updated on migration, but given the fact that I will be missing many more mornings this season, I want you all to consider following my Twitter feed. I can update it from my phone as well as my computer, so I’m much less restricted in my posting than I am to updating the radar. So if you want to know whether there’s a big flight in progress, and what the prospects are for birding the following day, then follow my tweets on Twitter- because that will be the most updated information. If you don’t use Twitter, that’s fine- just visit this website and look on the right-hand sidebar where my latest tweets are automagically posted.

Good Birding

David

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It looks like we will see birds moving on both Thursday and Friday nights, as wind gradually become more conducive for migration. Conditions tonight will favor migration over New Jersey and southern New York, while tomorrow night we should expect more widespread migration across the mid-Atlantic,  northeastern US and southern Canada. A general westerly component to the wind should push birds toward the coast, which is always good for Cape May NJ… so visiting our new Morning Flight counter, Tom Johnson, will be a great way to start off Friday and Saturday.

Southerly flow returns on Saturday and migration should cease until early next week. Right now it looks like Wednesday will be the next good flight after this weekend… stay tuned!

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Looking at the forecast today, it appears we have a cold front destined to stall across NJ by Tuesday night. Normally south winds precede a cold front followed by northwest winds behind the front. This makes migration more-or-less predictable, at least at a coarse geographical scale. All cold fronts aren’t created equal, though, and so in the case of the upcoming front, while winds should turn more northwesterly Tuesday into Wednesday, the winds to our north (over southern Ontario, New York, etc.) will remain southerly due to a strong low pressure system over Canada. Any birds that do migration on Tuesday night will most likely have originated from nearby (all of NJ and maybe southern NY). As that low moves eastward, though, a second front will enter the region during the weekend and bring northwest winds from southern Canada down through the Mid-Atlantic. We should expect, then, to see a more considerable flight into the region on Sunday and Monday mornings. With six days separating now and then there are a lot of unknowns… but for now (at least) it’s looking good for early next week!

Good Birding
David

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It’s August- and the birds are heading south again. Last night the mid-Atlantic saw one of the first notable pushes of nocturnal migrants of the fall season. I’ll get the radar up later today… but first I’m off to do a little ground-truthing at the Higbee WMA.

Good Birding!
David

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It’s hard work…

Originally uploaded by woodcreeper.

You know things are ramping-up around here when Pete and Brian (and a number of other local celebs) do their annual optics ratings. Hours and hours (days?) of testing and rating glass after glass, all the while painstakingly recording their perception of feel, performance, and quality. Of course, this can only mean one thing…

Bird(er)s are coming!

Speaking of birds- it looks like by this evening the latest cold front will have passed, and N/NW winds will build in behind it in time for some nocturnal migration overnight. Not a major flight, mind you, but probably a good one for late July! I’ll be turning on the mic tonight to see what can be heard beyond the chorus of insects…

p.s. if you’re interested in knowing how Pete and Brian’s data collection ultimately gets used, you can read the results of the last review in the Buyers Guides here: http://featheredgeoptics.com/buyersguide.htm

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A mix of wind directions and precipitation scenarios made for a very uneven distribution of birds last night. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 6:00am this morning. Note that the Dover radar was having problems last night, so only a few of the images are present in the loop.

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

The winds over New Jersey ranged from north to south, and east to west, throughout the night, with the only consistency being relatively low wind speeds. Therefore we did see some migration last night, even on the unstable wind conditions and precipitation that moved through overnight. Given the predominance of southeasterly winds over southern New Jersey, most birds over the Dover radar appeared to be heading inland, up the Delaware River, instead of across to the north bay shore. Over central and northern New Jersey, though, most movement started out on a S->N trajectory, and then turned the more typical SW->NE throughout the night. Birds could be seen heading over Sandy Hook on the early morning radar, but given the ESE wind readings on the Sandy Hook buoy as of 6:30am, I’d say that the probability is low for high densities of birds on this well-established migrant trap. Inland sites such as Garret Mountain and locations along the Delaware River may be the best bets for seeing some new birds today.

Over the next two nights we will see south winds across the region, as a cold front pushes east and then stalls over our area. We’re getting pretty late in the season now, so I’m not expecting anything major, but it will be interesting to see how May wraps up migration-wise. On that note, I’ll be signing off with my regular (almost) daily posts as of tomorrow morning, but will be posting throughout the summer on interesting topics, and hopefully with a summary of this seasons migration events. It has been another fun season, this time with the added benefit of living in Cape May… now I really can’t wait for fall!

Good Birding

David

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A small number of birds could be seen migrating last night, but the switch to more northerly winds clearly shut things down early, especially in the north. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Not much to say, except that while I expect a few more nights of moderate migration over the next week, things have definitely wound down for the season.

Last night we saw a little push of birds into the region, and an even smaller amount heading out. I think the main variable here was more northerly winds up north, and more variable winds down south. Expect birds to have thinned out a bit across most of the state, dispersing from migrant traps to better stopover habitat, and in general becoming less visible (ie not concentrated in any particular place). The Cape May peninsula showed a higher degree of activity last night that I had expected (with no strong westerly winds), so it will be interesting to see what turns up down here throughout the day. It’s possible that a good portion of this activity was shorebirds, especially since you can see a morning exodus of birds heading back south in the last frame, presumably roosting shorebirds or gulls heading over the Delaware to feed.

Good Birding

David

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The winds were light last night; more easterly to the south and more southwesterly to the north, creating an interesting signature across the radar.

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

So the northern half of New Jersey experienced the bulk of the migration last night, with birds traveling in a typical SW->NE direction over Sandy Hook and into Manhattan and Long Island, NY. Sandy Hook and Garret Mountain, therefore, should be the best bets for new arrivals this morning.

Further south, though, migration was on a more S->N trajectory, although not as prominent as it had been in previous nights, when east winds had been stronger. Some birds can actually be seen crossing between Lewes, DE and the Cape May peninsula last night, unlike the night before. Still, the bulk of migration in the south entered New Jersey well north on the Delaware Bay shore such that any appreciable migration activity will be most likely in those locales.

Good Birding

David

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The winds over southern New Jersey last night were out of the ENE, while most of the region to our west was under more easterly, or southeasterly flow. That seems to have been the deciding factor in where migration occurred last night, and where it didn’t. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

As you can see, the heaviest migration occurred over the greater New York state (regional composite) with little movement along the east coast, including Manhattan and Long Island. For New Jersey, a moderate push could be seen leaving the northern half of the state, while the south was relatively quiet. A nice pulse of birds were also evident heading north out of the Chesapeake Bay and Delmarva Peninsula, but all of this movement appeared to be heading due north, and bypassing NJ altogether.

Expect little in terms of migration density across the region… with Garret Mountain still holding more migrants relative to other locations.

Good Birding

David

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The eastern seaboard was ablaze with migration last night, along with the Central Flyway and parts of the Mississippi Flyway as well. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Winds were light and southeasterly last night, triggering another night of migration across many parts of the country, especially at central and northern latitudes. On the east coast, migration was heavy from the Mid-Atlantic through the Northeast, with highest densities occurring inland from the coast. This appears due to the southeasterly flow of the winds, which (for once this spring) did not push birds toward the coast. Expect the highest densities at inland migration hotspots today, such as along the Delaware River, and along interior ridges such as Garret Mountain. East winds should preclude many nocturnal migrants from “sticking” to coastal hotspots such as Sandy Hook, but may bring the possible pelagic gem (such as Sooty Shearwater or Arctic Tern) closer to shore… so if you’re in Cape May for Spring Weekend, or out at Montauk for some sun, be sure to scan the sea for anything out of the ordinary! And of course, come on back and let us know what you see.

Last night I was alerted to some visible migration via the Night Flight Call listserve (are you a member of the list? well, if you’re interested in nocturnal flight calls, you might want to consider it). From a local patch on the south side of Boston, Marshall Iliff reported seeing an inland flight of White-winged Scoters heading north. By the time darkness fell, he had estimated 630 individuals in several flocks. What a great sighting! Along with the WWSCs, he also witnessed 80 Atlantic Brant, a more regionally common sighting, but still a notable movement of migrants heading to the northwest. Bill Evans brought up the possibility of seeing these birds on the radar, so I’m going to take a closer look at the loops for Massachusetts and see if anything stands out… I’ll post an update when I’ve got something.

Until then, get out there and find some birds- it’s Spring Weekend down here, and I’ve got a hankering for some Puffinus on today’s seawatch… or maybe the Swallow-tailed AND Mississippi Kites from yesterday will return again today (and I won’t have to be in the office this time!!!!)

Good Birding!

David

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With winds being light and northerly (emphasis on light!), birds did what birds do this late in the spring- they migrated! Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning. Unfortunately, the NYC radar was down all night, so I couldn’t post it below. This happens from time to time, and should be back online by tonight (if not already).

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

Migration was moderate to heavy at times last night, but appeared to slow down in the early morning hours. It’s hard to tell, really, where birds were headed after 2am, since some strobing was evident in the radar images after that point. Either way, the general trend was more SW->NE than two nights ago, suggesting that less birds will have been pushed to the SE coast than yesterday (Cape May was great, by the way). More thrushes moved through, as was evident during my few minutes of nocturnal listening around 10:30pm, but I haven’t checked the entire recording to see how it compares with the night before.

Given no precipitation or opposing winds to shut down migration, expect the best locations today to be the tried-and-true migrant traps. Sandy Hook is a great choice, as the local buoy there is reading west winds at 3kts. I expect to hear about Mourning warblers feeding in the open grass today… what say you Scott? Garret Mountain should see some replacement today, and the northern Delaware Bay should too. Today kicks off the official Spring Weekend in Cape May, and I think anyone getting out to the weekend events will definitely get a taste of what makes this place so irresistible to birders. Okay, I’m off to see what’s around and will report back soon, so please make sure you stop back and give us an update on your day too!

Good Birding

David

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Birds were in the air last night – and Thrushes were clearly a part of the action based on the nocturnal flight calls we were hearing after dark. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Northerly winds yesterday gave way to southwest winds in the afternoon which then continued through early this morning. Clear skies and favorable winds were the recipe for a moderate to heavy flight over the Mid-Atlantic last night, where four species of thrushes (SWTH, GCTH, VEER, and BITH) could be readily heard overhead (from Villas, NJ, at least). Swainson’s Thrush clearly gave off the most numerous flight calls, and only one Bicknell’s Thrush was detected… but the calling rate was something to be experienced (about 1/minute, sometimes up to 10/minute). Other birds detected (and identified) were Least Sandpiper, Clapper Rail, American Redstart, Canada Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, White-throated Sparrow (getting late!), and Savannah Sparrow. That was all before midnight.

So, radar-wise, birds were headed in a SW->NE trajectory with a good source pool of birds originating over eastern Virginia and Washington DC. With high densities coming from both the south and the west, expect most migrant traps across the state to have new birds this morning. The obvious targets would be locations along the northern Delaware Bay shore, Garret Mountain, and Sandy Hook; but don’t overlook your local patch either. Northwest winds are on tap for this morning, but they’re light and variable at best right now, so we’ll see how much they push down the Cape May peninsula today. I’d expect a good showing of birds around Cape Island, based on the combined radar and flight call information… now I’ll have to go and find out. Please stop back and let us know what you saw!

Good Birding

David

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Well, not really… more like “gone birding”. Nothing happening on the radar- as winds are gusty and out of the NNW tonight. Tomorrow night is shaping up to be the next decent flight- so stay tuned, and see you on Thursday morning!

Good Birding
David

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The winds were light and out of the north last night, but clearly not enough of an obstacle to keep birds from moving this late in the season. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

The winds were light (5kts) and out of the northwest last night, but otherwise the atmospheric conditions were quite conducive to migration. The radar indicates that birds took advantage of the conditions and made a bid for the breeding grounds. Migration was widespread across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast last night, with the majority of birds heading on a S->N track. With no weather to bring birds down, I would not expect any fallout conditions to have occurred. The best bets today will be migrant traps such as the central Delaware Bay coastline and Garret Mountain in New Jersey. Sandy Hook should be good early this morning, but will die down as east winds build in by late morning.

Of course, your observations are always welcome, so please stop back and let us know what you saw.

Good Birding

David

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Just in time for the biggest birding event in the… (dare I say it??). Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

The weather really took shape last night, bringing high densities of migrants to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast in general, and the Garden State in particular. Surface winds really triggered this flight, as the winds aloft were out of the northwest. Given the southeasterly component to the surface winds, it does appear that the upper-level winds played a part in this movement- as many birds were seen over the Cape May peninsula, and heading out over Sandy Hook early this morning. Surface winds continue out of the SW this morning over Sandy Hook, so expect a great day at this gem of a migrant trap. The entire state is fair game today, as migration was widespread- but migrant traps such as Garret Mountain should hold higher-than-average numbers of migrants. Central and Prospect parks in NYC should also be teaming with birds this morning, as early morning weather seems to have put birds down over Manhattan. More importantly (maybe), though, is the most recent forecast for Game Day…

Right now all three of the forecast models appear to be converging on one excellent (for migration and birding) solution… in general, it looks like the upper level and surface winds will be blowing out of the west and southwest respectively. While the previous forecast indicated too much northwest for me to think “heavy migration”, the recent forecast has the upper-level winds turning WSW early tomorrow night… it’s looking like a GO for Friday night into Saturday Morning! For those of us doing the Big Day on Cape Island only, you may be in luck too- as northwest winds will build in at all altitudes after 2am. While we expect those winds to halt migration further north (bringing birds down into our favorite hotspots by morning) northwest winds have an additive effect in Cape May, tending to bring with them migrants that have overshot their intended goals (such as Mississippi and Swallow-tailed Kites), and those birds that have wandering tendencies (such as Cattle Egrets). Oh, the playing field is looking good!

This will probably be my last post until Sunday, as I’ll be starting our state route at midnight with my team, the Scarlet Knight Herons- so until then, good birding, good last-minute scouting, and GOOD LUCK! I’m sure Mike will be updating the blog at CMBO, and you can keep up with the Cornell Redheads and Sapsuckers via their Facebook pages… they’ve been quite entertaining to follow through their adventures in pre-gaming. Thanks to all of the other teams for helping out with scouting- it really has been a fun collabo-competitive endeavor.  We will see you in the field tomorrow- and at the finish line soon thereafter.
Cheers,

David

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It’s Wednesday night and the atmosphere over New Jersey is pretty devoid of avian life. I’m heading out quite early tomorrow, so will not be posting the radar, but I will post an updated forecast tomorrow evening. Right now the probability is high for a heavy flight into the region on Thursday night, arriving on Friday morning… so stay tuned!

Good Birding
David

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Well, the rain got here a little “too” early… here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

I could tell last night, when I was driving home from work, that the weather was moving a bit ahead of schedule. After sunset, though, it became obvious that while some birds over central and northern New Jersey would take flight to the north, the Delmarva Peninsula would stay quiet. Aghh, such is migration. If you check out the regional composite, you’ll see that we were smack dab in the middle of a “dead zone”, while migration was evident to our south, west, and north. Expect some turnover (mostly exodus) at places like Garret Mountain, but little influx into the southern part of the state today. The Sandy Hook buoy is reading southeast winds, which means that Derek Lovitch is in town and therefore birding on The Hook will be slow (but we’re stoked that our 5th teammate is finally arriving today!). It looks like we’ll have to wait until Thursday night to see the next push of migrants, as tonight the winds will be out of the northeast… but when it does happen, I expect the next flight to be big!

Good birding, and scouting,

David

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More birds are on their way, but the persistent northwest winds were just enough to hold them at bay to our south. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Again, the most telling part of this series of images is not what they show you, but what they don’t. Last night the radars over the southeast and Gulf states were ablaze with migrants. While clearly heaviest over the Central and Mississippi flyways, the Eastern Flyway was still cranking as far north as the Carolinas. Despite heavy migration to our south, the northwest winds from the surface to 3000 feet did their job keeping birds from entering the Mid-Atlantic. Only a very few birds were detected crossing into Southern NJ last night, as can be seen on the Dover radar loop, and none were apparent over Central NJ or Eastern NY. That is all about to change tonight.

As the latest front pushes eastward tonight we will see winds turn southerly and then southeasterly across the region. Migration should be heavy tonight if the rain and thunderstorms can hold off until the late hours (which I suspect will happen).Unfortunately, for the Cape May peninsula, southeast winds are never ideal in spring and most of the migrants are expected to pass to our west. The rest of the state, though (and especially those locations lying west-of-center) should see a good influx of new birds by tomorrow morning. Northwest winds should build in on Wednesday, helping to push some of those recent arrivals back down the Cape May peninsula later in the day on Wednesday and definitely by Thursday. On Thursday night we should see another big push of migrants into the Mid-Atlantic, this time with some more birds crossing over the Delaware Bay and reaching the eastern shore of New Jersey.

For the extended outlook, I’m expecting the last big push of migrants to be on Thursday evening, arriving across the state on Friday morning. After that, winds are forecast to shift northwesterly and shut down any nocturnal movements through the weekend. That could mean some interesting things for the World Series of Birding, this Saturday, as migrants scouted on Friday should stay put through the Big Day. What this means for nocturnal calling rates on Friday and Saturday nights remains to be seen…

Either way, it’s gonna be a fun ride. I start going full throttle tonight- so hopefully I’ll be seeing some of you in the field over the next four days.

Good Birding, and Good Scouting,

David

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Indeed, it’s true. Northwest winds have kept things quiet for the last two nights over the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Here’s the regional composite from sunset last night through 6:00am this morning.

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

Not much to say about the radar last night, at least for our area. Birds were heading north along the Central flyway, as well from Florida to South Carolina, so we can expect more birds to be backing up until conditions improve on Tuesday night. Right now the two flight nights look to be Tuesday and Thursday nights, with Wednesday and Friday nights showing northwest winds.

Good Birding

David

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Wow- what a crazy busy weekend! Radar outages, getting into scouting for next weekend’s World Series of Birding, Mother’s Day… my head is spinning!  Here are the regional composites for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

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

As you can see from the composites, that last cold front came through like gangbusters: too far to our west, resulting in poor migration conditions on Thursday night; just to our west and strong southwest flow causing heavy migration on Friday night; then gone by Saturday morning, and replaced by strong northwest winds that shut down migration on Saturday night. Tonight, Sunday night, we’re still looking at strong northwest winds across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, which would suggest that we won’t see a nocturnal flight.  This has proven quite good for Garret Mountain which has experienced two great days of migrants sticking around after the large flight on Friday night. If you can get there tomorrow, you’ll probably have a great day. Around Cape May, the northwest winds have proven effective once more, producing multiple Swallow-tailed Kites, 8+ Cattle Egrets, a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and oodles of swallows, including numerous Cliff.

Right now it looks like the next migration-causing conditions will occur on Tuesday night, as the next cold front marches toward the east by mid-week. Possibly more interesting, though, is the chance of a second front reaching the east coast by the weekend. If it does, we could have a significant flight into the region for the Big Day on Saturday… I’ll be keeping an eye on it (as I’m sure all of the teams will) and will be posting regular updates as the weather becomes more predictable. For now, though, it’s looking good. Tomorrow morning I’ll resume regular postings, and hope that the radar cooperates!

Good Birding

David

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That’s right, More Birds! Many of which are probably bilingual, at least. I wish I could show you the radar- but when I went to download it this morning the script had hit a snag. What a bummer! It was pretty impressive….

…anyway; Migration was heavy throughout the night and pretty much followed the standard SW->NE trajectory throughout the region. High densities were everywhere, and I would expect the spring migrant trap locations to be hopping this morning- although not fallout conditions given the very conducive (to migration) atmosphere. As I often do this time of year, I’ll get into my “broken record” routine: the northwest Delaware Bay shore, Garret Mountain, Sandy Hook, and (for the NY birders who I often unintentionally neglect) Central Park will all be good bets today. Cape May should also be good, as good numbers were seen crossing over the peninsula early this morning… and who knows, maybe the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher will have stuck around! (wishful thinking, given the heavy migration traffic last night, but stranger things have happened!).

I’m off to scout the South for the upcoming big day.

Good Birding

David

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but northwest winds are always interesting in Cape May- so I’m on my way out. I’ll post the radar later this afternoon.

Good Birding

David

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It’s ON! Like clockwork, the cold front that falls between May 5 and 10th brings with it a huge influx of birds to the region. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Southwest winds on the approaching edge of the latest cold front, made for ideal migration conditions last night. The regional composite really shows well the extent and magnitude of the flight over the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern US. For New Jersey, conditions were perfect for the standard SW->NE flight, with no precipitation to concentrate birds. Expect the NW Delaware Bay shore (see Sandra’s comment from yesterday), Garret Mountain, and Sandy Hook to be the best bets for today, while all locations throughout the state will be showing some sign of migration (you might just have to look a little harder). Plenty of birds were over the Cape May peninsula last night, which suggests excellent birding conditions there as well. This may be one of the days for which you’ve been saving your comp time…

Any locations along the frontal boundary early this morning could be epic this today. Specifically, locations from NE Ohio, across the southeastern shores of the Great Lakes in New York, and up into NW Vermont, should all be experiencing fallout conditions this morning. I bet the scouting crews from the Cornell WSB teams wish they were back home today…

Good Birding!!!

David

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Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

The national (not shown) and regional composites indicate that migration was heaviest along the Central and Mississippi flyways, and also heavy along most of the Eastern flyway, up to and including the southern Delmarva Peninsula. North of that, though, migration intensity declined sharply, such that there was only light migration in the Northeastern US. Winds were out of the WSW early in the night, which caused birds to head more ENE through midnight. Birds could be seen flying over the Cape May peninsula at peak migration last night, which is always a good indication that they’re being pushed eastward by the winds. By early this morning, though, the winds had turned more light and variable, and birds appear to have corrected their direction of travel back to a more SSW->NNE. By sunrise the majority of birds still in the air were heading into New Jersey via the northwest Delaware bay and/or the Delaware River floodplain.

With no weather present to concentrate birds, the best bet for diversity and numbers this morning will be the tried-and-true migrant traps. I’m pretty confident that Cape May will produce some good birding conditions this morning as well, given the number of birds apparently over the peninsula at peak migration last night. It looks as if the next front will approach the East Coast tonight, bringing with it the next bout of southwest winds along the eastern flyway. We should see a big push of birds into the region overnight tonight and into tomorrow morning… here we go again!

Thanks to those who have donated to our World Series of Birding team! For those of you who would like to contribute, we have a Paypal link on our blog here: http://knightherons.blogspot.com/

You can also follow along with us on Facebook here: Knight Herons on Facebook

Good Birding

David

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Well, eventually you have to get those last dust bunnies out of the corners, in order to make way for the next stampede of migrants… that was last night. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Migration was light to moderate across the Atlantic coast, and light inland, as winds were west/southwest over the region. The strong push toward the east will favor coastal migrant traps this morning, including the Cape May peninsula. Garret Mountain, Sandy Hook, etc. will all be good choices today.

As you know, we’re really getting close to the Big Day now, with the World Series of Birding less than two weeks away! My team, The Scarlet Knight Herons, will be participating in the state-wide competition and  could really use your support to help us raise money for conservation. You can (and should!) come be our fan on Facebook and if you are so inclined, we’d love to have your pledge. 25 cents, 50 cents, $1 per bird? A small lump sum? anything will help us out, and all donations will go straight to a not-for-profit organization focused on bird conservation. We still have to choose our organization, and right now it’s between a local NJ conservation group and one working on oil spill cleanup along the Gulf Coast… if we get enough, though, we may even be able to support both. Either way, I’ll be keeping you posted via this blog, and our Facebook page.
Good Birding

David

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Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Birds were on the move once again last night, as the northbound trend continues. Cold front moved into the region overnight last night, causing strong southwesterly winds along the frontal boundary and eventually bringing heavy rain to the northern half of New Jersey. This heavy precipitation, following some moderate to heavy migration, will mean birds will be concentrated along the frontal boundary this morning. If you experienced heavy rain beginning after midnight (and probably still going this morning!) you have a good chance of seeing a mini-fallout in your area. Otherwise Sandy Hook should see some good bird activity this morning as the flight continued on a SW->NE trajectory through 5:00am. Most of the birds crossing the Delaware Bay did so on a more S->N trajectory, such that most birds will have missed Cape May altogether. That said, some birds could be seen making the crossing between Lewes, DE and Cape May, so expect some new birds to be around at first light.

It looks like westerly and northwesterly flow will return to the region for a few days. If nothing moves tonight, then we probably wont see much migration until Thursday or Friday. I’ll post any updates as they become clearer.

Good Birding

David

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Conditions were excellent last night, for a strong movement of migrants heading north from all points along the Eastern and Mississippi flyways. The Central flyway, too, was pretty active, especially along the Gulf coast and throughout Texas. It’s beginning to feel a LOT like springtime! Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Migration was heavy across the Mid-Atlantic last night, with most birds heading on a more typical (than the previous night) trajectory of SW->NE. No weather was present today to concentrate birds in any one location, so choosing a spring migrant trap will definitely be the best bet this morning. Expect birds that arrived two days ago to begin dispersing into the landscape looking for optimal foraging habitat, and for new arrivals to concentrate at places such as the northern Delaware Bay shore, Garret Mountain, and Sandy Hook. This should mean an overall increase in bird diversity and density at most locations today. Southwest winds and high thermal activity will dominate throughout the day, which will allow for nice diurnal raptor activity throughout the region as well.

I should mention that today also kicks off the FREE NJ Audubon May Days event, being held at the brand new Hoffman Center for Conservation and Education at the Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary in Bernardsville, NJ. This is a perfect way to see lots of birds (the center is on a great piece of birding real estate) while also experiencing live demos of radio-telemetry and bird banding, lots of hands-on activities for kids, and great food and exhibits.

Hope to see you in the field!
Good Birding

David

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Migration was H E A V Y last night, with high densities pushing up into the Mid-Atlantic throughout the night and morning. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

As you can see from the regional composite, migration was heavy up to and including Manhattan, with lighter movements continuing both up into western NY and up into New England. The national composite (not shown) showed heavy migration across the Big Three (Central, Mississippi and Eastern) flyways last night. No weather was present over the Mid-Atlantic to concentrate birds, so the best places will be those tried and true spring migrant hotspots. Given the sheer volume of birds, most locations (hotspot, or not) should be holding more birds today than they did yesterday.

This migration trend will continue through the weekend, usually with less volume in subsequent nights, but having a net increase effect given the additive nature of all the birds heading north and needing to refuel. It’s always nice when these things happen at the start of a weekend!

Good Birding

David

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No time to post the radar, unfortunately, but I did want to drop a note that there was some migration visible on the radar last night, even despite the strong WNW winds over the region. Birds could be seen being pushed to the east throughout the night, with the heaviest movements heading NE to the coast, including the lower peninsula (which is typically geographically challenged in the spring). Cape May should be interesting today, as should Sandy Hook… now to figure out why my water pump isn’t working, and then get to work… sigh.

Good Birding!
David

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Well, in migration you’ve got ‘open flood gates’, ‘closed flood gates’, and in some cases gates that are left a little open (what’s the matter with you!? were you raised in a barn, buddy!??). Last night, while most of New Jersey was still under the influence of a remnant cold front, the Delmarva was clear enough to allow a small push of birds into southern NJ. Hence, someone left the gates unlocked. Not fully ajar, mind you, but just enough to let a few birds squeeze in. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:30am this morning.

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

As you can see from the radar, the only real visible nocturnal migrants were restricted to the southern tip and shore of New Jersey. Winds were out of the west over this region, and the velocity image corroborates that fact, with most birds being pushed eastward over the Cape May peninsula, and up along the western Delaware Bay shore. I live along this shoreline, and I can tell you that last night the nocturnal flight calls were frequent, with lots of White-throated and Savannah sparrows, as well as Yellow-rumped Warblers. Tom Reed shot me a text message alerting me to the phenomenon, and he was hearing even more up his way on Reed’s Beach Rd. I would expect birds around Cape May point and the Delaware Bay shore this morning, up to the Atlantic City area- but not much else further north, based solely on the radar and the weather.

That said, all that will be on the ground today cannot be explained by the radar alone. Garret Mountain proved that yesterday, with an apparent influx of White-throated Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kingelts, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Judging from the radar, I can see no visible signal of migration north of Atlantic City- but birds can move under the precipitation, and under the radar, for that matter! I look forward to hearing your reports from the field, so please come back and visit and let us know what you’ve seen- and at the very least report your sightings to eBird and then to Jerseybirds so that we can have a running archive of migration for the region.

Good Birding

David

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John Van Dort – the spring migration counter at Sandy Hook – has a blog. Here’s the address: http://johnvandort-ontheroad.blogspot.com/

If you haven’t checked it out already, then you should. If you have, then you know that John is not only a great observer of birds, but he’s also gifted at analyzing his observations and interpreting his results in very clear and concise prose. I learn something interesting every time I visit; and really enjoy reading about how things unfold at one of New Jersey’s great spring migrant traps.

Thanks John. Keep up the great work!

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More birds are piling up to our south as a series of low pressure systems park themselves over the Mid-Atlantic. A few birds did manage to sneak into South Jersey before it all shut down, though. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

For starters, the radar showed no visible migration after sunset for NYC (via the Upton NY radar) nor for most of New Jersey (via the Fort Dix radar). The only apparent migration into New Jersey occurred along the extreme southern portion of the state, including a flight into the northern Delaware Bay shore, and into the southern peninsula. Northwest winds built in quickly as the low pressure systems barreled down on New Jersey, causing most of those birds to land before sunrise.

So, we continue with this backlog of migrants to our south- as there was some appreciably heavy migration across most of the eastern flyway last night, up to the Jersey border. We can hope to have some of these birds in our area by tomorrow, if the winds turn westerly as forecast… but we’ll have to wait and see if that holds through tonight. Until then, expect minimal changes locally, with the best chance at new arrivals being along the Delaware Bay shore at Belleplain, Heislerville, etc. Cape May could be interesting this morning… I’m about to go find out!

Good Birding

David

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As expected, birds took to the skies last night, and continued to push through the region as the latest low pressure system slammed into the east coast. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 7:00am this morning.

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

Each of the local radars shows moderate levels of migration last night, before the storms hit the east coast. As precipitation pushed eastward, though, birds appear to have kept moving on the southerly tailwinds, especially over central New Jersey (as per the Fort DIX radar). This suggests two things. 1) there were less birds coming up out of the south and entering the Delmarva and southern New Jersey. This is also corroborated by the regional reflectivity, as well as the general direction of migrants from Virginia and the Delmarva (primarily heading from south to north, which therefore bypasses southern New Jersey and heads more for Pennsylvania).

The most interesting part of this flight might be the apparent push from SW->NE, putting large numbers of birds over Garret Mountain and Sandy Hook before the heaviest rains put birds down. The switch in wind direction from SW to S to SE overnight would usually mean birds would be absent from The Hook by morning- but I’m hesitant to make that bet. In fact, I’d be very keen to head out there this morning and see what’s flitting about… chances look better than even that it’ll be a good day. Garret Mountain, too, should see some dense concentrations of birds today, and I’d like to have been at the top of the ridge at first light to see what kind of action was going on there.

That said, your local patch may be hopping this morning, especially if you live in Central or Northern New Jersey, and the rain began in earnest over your area after 1:00am. If you make the trip out into the field this morning, please come by and let us know how it went… I’m out the door to see what might be around Cape May, although I don’t expect much in terms of migrant landbirds… but who knows!?

Good Birding

David

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If I told you that there were tens of thousands of birds right at your doorstep, just chomping at the bit to get into New Jersey, would you believe me? Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 6:00am this morning.

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

Well, you should believe me- but don’t use the local radar to confirm it. The local radar showed little movement over New Jersey last night, and even less over New York City. The cold front that dipped down over NJ yesterday has maintained its barrier to northbound migrants from the Delmarva all the way west into the Great Lakes states. It’s pretty impressive! If you check out the regional composite, you can see this effect first-hand. But check out the activity south of the front line… lots of birds! Now check out this link: 20100424_045900.png That’s the national composite from 1am EST last night. Wow.

What you can see from the national composite is heavy migration coming up from the Gulf Coast states and continuing up into the Central Flyway. There’s a large weather system centered over the South; TN, KY, that’s blocking some of the northbound traffic on the Mississippi Flyway, although there is still plenty of action between that system and the front that’s precluding birds from entering our area. Look down at Florida, and you can see birds arriving via Cuba and the Caribbean… pretty sweet! (you can see more on this at http://badbirdz2.wordpress.com, where Angel and Mariel Abreu are updating the Florida radar on a daily basis). Migration up the Eastern Flyway is also ramping up, as you can see heavy movement over Georgia and South Carolina, and moderate to heavy migration moving north up to Virginia.

So, while I expect little change to our avifauna given the almost total blockage of nocturnal migrant by the frontal boundary, by tonight that low pressure spinning in the middle of the country will move east, triggering more southerly flow over our area. I expect to see a good push of birds into the Garden State over the next two nights… so stay tuned!

Good Birding

David

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A weak cold front dipped into the Garden State last night, and prevented much of anything from entering from the south. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

You can see the cold front in the radar images, represented by a line of precipitation extending across Central NJ and the Delmarva Peninsula. The regional composite shows a moderate level of migration occurred in the southern Mid-Atlantic region, but cut off north of the Delmarva by the frontal boundary (which moved south through the night). A push of birds was apparent across the northern Chesapeake Bay, so new birds should be expected around the natural areas in that region. While I’m unfamiliar with any birding locations there, on Google Maps, Elk Neck State Park looks like a good choice. I’d love to hear from some Delmarva birders as to where in that region can be good for spring birding.

Further north in New Jersey, conditions were less conducive to migration. An early and small push of birds was evident into the southern half of the state, but quickly faded out as conditions deteriorated. Northwest winds will make things a little more interesting around Cape May, where we have the chance of some new birds making their way back down the peninsula… but don’t expect any major numbers given the light flight. To the north there was little in the way of movement, with only a small number of birds seen heading NW toward NY.

Of course, any day afield is a good day, so until next time…

Good Birding!

David

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