woodcreeper

What a beautiful day it was yesterday! around 70 degrees F, blue skies, light southerly wind… it really felt like the spring equinox. Well, last night I can only imagine many birds feeling the same way, and based on the radar, they did. Here’s the radar from 7:00pm last night through 5:30am this morning.

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

The regional composite really does the best job of telling the story this morning; I think. Southerly flow was evident from the surface to 3000+ feet last night, allowing for widespread migration across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. These winds are an effect of the low pressure system approaching from the southwest, and associated cold front sinking down from the northeast, cradling the space of high pressure over our region. As the low continues to advance to the east, and the cold front remains across the Northeastern US, we will see this wind gradient deepen and ultimately culminate in tonight’s migration event (okay, I’m jumping the gun here a bit).

So last night birds continued on the typical spring approach, a predominantly SSW->NNE trajectory across the region. With no significant weather to concentrate birds, the best locations will be those along the major axis of travel, which I had mentioned in yesterday’s post (but which you know as the “tried and true” spring migrant traps). Given how early it still is, I would expect that most of the birds in this migration cloud are short-distance passerines, along with many waders, ducks, geese, etc. I visited Jake’s Landing yesterday morning and was impressed with the number of high altitude ducks and geese as well as the odd Great Blue heron coming in from the south at daybreak (I also had at least three Pine Warblers in the first 100 yards of the pines, coming from the marsh-side. Presumably two of these were new arrivals. Other birds of note were four Eastern Meadowlarks, an Osprey occupying one of the platforms, a pair of Bald Eagles, and lots of N. Flickers, Carolina Wrens, and a nesting pair of Carolina Chickadees).

So, tonight if the heavy rains hold off (as they are forecast to do) we should see a large flight of birds coming up from the south and terminating somewhere over New Jersey. The fallout line will depend on whether the stalled cold front pushes back up north or not during the night, but either way, we should keep a close eye on its placement throughout the night and into the morning to explore the possibility of our first fallout of the spring season. Again, this would be very different than, say, a fallout on May 2nd (or even April 2nd!), but it will still be interesting to see what effects the weather will have on the migration cloud.

Good Birding

David

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Light southwest winds last night, coupled with clear skies, made for some good migration weather over the Mid-Atlantic region. While not nearly as intense as the migration going on several states to our west, birds could still be seen entering from the Delmarva Peninsula and making their way into the Northeast via northeastern New Jersey. Here’s the radar from 6:00pm last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

The radar shows the typical spring migration pattern across the region, with birds sticking to a SSW->NNE trajectory, aided by the typical SW tailwind. This typical trajectory naturally favors sites along the northern Delaware Bay shore, inland locations such as Garret Mountain and the Meadowlands, and coastal sites situated in the northeastern corner such as Sandy Hook. Cape May, on the other hand, is noticeably outside of the densest part of this migration cloud, simply due to its geographical placement (but in the fall, the trajectory is reversed, and Cape May becomes the major hotspot on the East Coast).

Last night’s migration was light to moderate in intensity, so not much change is expected to be noticeable on the ground, although the densities coming up from the southeast are encouraging (you can see them on the regional composite). Any changes in species composition and density should be most evident at the sites I mentioned above, which lie closest along the path of densest migration. Migration is expected to ramp up each night over the weekend as a strong low pressure system pushes eastward.

Okay, now it’s time to squeeze in a few hours of birding before fatherly duties kick in!

Good Birding

David

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A picture’s worth a thousand words, right? Well, click on the first image and you can flip through the series explaining what’s on tap for this weekend. It should be interesting!

[View with PicLens]

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Just a trickle last night, but some birds were definitely moving. Looks like the next cold front is on the way with a bigger flight on tap over the weekend. More details to follow as we approach.

Good BIrding!

David

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It’s always a matter of clearing out the cobwebs once migration begins. Every year I say I’ll get an earlier start, and every year I find myself buried in other work just as the season explodes around me. Well, this year is no different! Yesterday I did a little mid-afternoon birding around work and noticed a dearth of winter migrants around. At first I scanned the area for a sharp-shinned or cooper’s hawk, but after about 10 minutes of very little activity (in an area usually full of activity) I realized that birds may have moved out overnight. Well, after checking the radar, it appears they did! Last night, again, was no exception, although judging by the radar, we should see a bit of replacement this morning (as opposed to the night before, when migration was mostly an exodus out of NJ). The radar loops below include images from 9:00pm last night through 5:30am this morning, so migration was well under way at the beginning of the loops.

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

Conditions last night were pretty good for nocturnal migration, especially over the mid-Atlantic, from central NC up through NJ. Winds turned more NW as one moves further north, and only a light amount of migration can be seen on the NYC radar, as compared to those further south. Coastal NC also was under less optimal winds, and therefore experienced the least amount of migration in the Mid-Atlantic region. Otherwise, winds were SSW in the southern half of the region, turning more westerly up into northern NJ. Westerly winds were more common at altitude, while surface winds tended to be more out of the SW.

Simply based on the time of year, I would expect this wave to be composed of short distance migrants. A report at 11:30pm last night from Andrew Farnsworth out of NYC reports…

“…an interesting assortment of calls from vocal migrants moving tonight in
NYC including Hermit Thrush (4), Brown Creeper (2), Red-breasted Nuthatch (2), White-throated Sparrow (8), and Song Sparrow (5) among
others. Not huge numbers (44 calls in the last 1.5 hours), but decent.”

With a moderate westerly component to the winds last night, I would expect NJ to get a fair number of these birds. This type of weather bodes well for Central NJ as well as coastal locations such as Sandy Hook, which lie at the NE boundary. Garret Mountain should see this influx this morning, but realize that the predominant species will likely be those which you’ve been seeing all winter, just clearing out of the southern Mid-Atlantic. Keep an eye out for Red-breasted Nuthatch, and the possible Pine, Yellow-throated, and LA Waterthrush warbler species. Spring has sprung, and it looks like there’s more on the way this weekend!

Good Birding

David

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Between the text messages coming in about birds around Cape May and the activity on the various listserves covering the mid-Atlantic, Zugunruhe is setting in at my desk! The bird activity has definitely picked up around here as of the last couple of days. Don Freiday has been diligently posting about it on the Birdcapemay.org blog, complete with snazzy photos from the local birding community. Therefore, I won’t go into specific sightings except to say that I’d like some time to look for that Eared Grebe that Chris Vogel found yesterday on the south end of Nummy Island (maybe tomorrow??).

I have been checking out the weather forecast, though, and it looks like things are going to pick up this weekend. Tonight, even, we could see a flight over New Jersey, although most of the favorable conditions will be quite local, so expect predominantly northbound winter residents such as White-throated and Song sparrows, American Robins, etc. (actually, you can pretty much expect these species regardless of the conditions, given the time of year). As a cold front approaches this weekend, the migration superhighway will connect the southern states to the mid-Atlantic and we should see some of the early migrants making their way into the region. For instance, expect Pine and Yellow-throated Warblers to make their way into NJ by the end of the weekend. I’ll be keeping an eye on the radar, and post it here as soon as we see some action. Until then, work on some neck stretches… warblers are coming.

Good Birding

David

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