Tonight’s forecast is calling for southerly winds over Virginia and westerly winds over New Jersey, so we could see a push of birds both tonight and tomorrow night. I’ll post and update around 9pm this evening, and the radar tomorrow morning.
In the meantime, I had two FOS birds in the woods today- Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Swamp Sparrow. Given that no migration was apparent on the radar last night, I’ll assume these are a result of some localized movements.
Good Birding
Update 10:05pm:
Some birds are indeed moving over Virgina, but the trajectory is taking them west around the Chesapeake Bay. As for New Jersey, despite unfavorable winds at most altitudes some birds still seem to be moving low on the radar. The densities are very low though, and it’s hard to discern them since they’re so low in the radar’s view (as they can be mistaken for ground clutter). We’ll have to see if anything makes it into the radar by morning to decide whether we have a net gain or net loss. Tomorrow night is shaping up for better migratory conditions assuming the precipitation holds off until birds take flight. I’ll post the radar in the AM and a more detailed forecast tomorrow evening.
