Birds were definitely on the move last night. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through sunrise this morning. I guess I need to set my image download program a little earlier, since by 7:30pm the radar was already filled with birds. Anyway, with no weather present to put birds down in any particular location, expect moderate numbers of birds dispersed over the landscape, with decent morning flights at local hot spots. Today should be another good one at Raccoon Ridge- too bad I can’t go! (3 Goshawks + 5 Golden Eagles yesterday!!!)
Good Birding 🙂
One response to “Birds on the move”
On the night of Wednesday, October 26th, clear skies and strong Northwest Winds predominated at the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building. Winds were 15-25 mph with occasional higher gusts.
The night migration began at 6:56pm when a flock of 9 American Robins passed by…Robins are the only passerines I regularly see in flocks in migration at night. (And despite the high numbers of kinglets, hermit thrushes and various species of warbler, these other species are never seen migrating in flocks….”loose associations” would be a better term for most passerines moving at night.) At about 7:20pm, there was a flock of three Great Blue Herons in line formation. And the Am. Woodcock count was 7 last night.
Total Count was 112 migrants for the night. The peak hour was 8-9pm when 41 migrants were counted. The flight dwindled rapidly after 9:45pm.