Well, it’s been a few nights since the Northeast has been able to support a big movement of birds, but tonight is the exception! Lots of birds are moving out of Maine, Vermont, New York, and the rest of the Northeast. New Jersey is showing a very strong signal on the NEXRAD, and the velocity image shows birds moving south at speeds >10-20kts higher than the prevailing winds. I’ve included both the base reflectivity and the velocity loops for 2 hours after sunset, as well as a national loop showing the extent of bird migration across the eastern half of the country. My opinion is that all good fall migration spots should be rockin’ tomorrow so pick your favorite. Note that there is no weather to bring birds down, so places like Higbee’s beach or Chimney Rock should be better than others.
Now for the radar:
5 responses to “Big Migration Over New Jersey!”
Great website. Fascinating information. Thanks.
Thanks for keeping up this site!! My wife and I are very greatfull.
I took Dave’s suggestion and ran out to Chimney Rock this morning before work – between 6 and 7 am – there was very little early on, but migrants seemed to be alighting towards the end of the period (when I had to leave!). I counted only about 20 warblers though, and they were moving way too fast to get a bead on any of them. A pair of sharpies as well.
Blake, Karen and I took the red-eye to Sandy Hook and fell victim to the “too early rule”. When we arrived the place was dead with the exception of a few bobolinks heard up high. When it got light enough to see, we did a lap around the hawkwatch area only to find a handful of the regulars, plus a Northern Waterthrush. The Locust Grove was empty! On our way back to the car we ran into Patty Dexter and Ken Klapper (“The Sandy Hookers”) who were already into a nice group of orioles. Due to our morning class schedule (and because Ken was giving me crap about my red sweater) 😉 we left them to discover any rarities at the north end, and headed down to the Boy Scout Camp area. At the end of the bikepath the birds seemed to be congregating in the sunniest trees, and we could finally see the effects of last night’s migration. We only tallied 11 species of warbler (best being first-of-the-fall Northern Parula, and a stunning Blackburnian), but the numbers were pretty good overall for only 2 hours of birding. We had two Common Nighthawks on Raccoon road, one of them perching in a sycamore for good looks. I think Blake is posting the total tally on Jerseybirds, so I’ll leave the long-windedness to him. Anyway, birds were late to land (which makes sense given the favorable flying weather) but most places should have seen some good birds. Tonight should also show a good movement given the favorable weather conditions.
The weather conditions were perfect for a good morning flight at Higbee’s Beach this morning. Like David has already stated, the front had cleared and the winds had shifted to the NW by dusk – perfect for the warblers to get moving. Nothing to stop them, so Cape May Point was “rocking”! I don’t have official numbers, but excellent numbers of birds were flying north at the Higbee’s
Beach Dike.
Baltimore and a few Orchard Orioles, Scarlet Tanager, Kingbirds, Bobolinks, Red-eyed Vireo, Great Crested Flycatcher, Gnatcatcher, Empis, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Cedar Waxwings, Indigo Bunting, Parula, Nashville, Yellow, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Prairie, Black and White, Redstart, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, and Wilson’s Warbler. I am sure I am missing a lot! Started about 6:45AM and was still continuing although at a much reduced rate at 9:00AM.