Not only that, but the wind forecasts were all weird last night (or maybe it was me…I’m still not sure). Here’s the radar from sunset last night through sunrise this morning.
Frames are every 1/2 hour for reflectivity and velocity, and every hour for the regional composite. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.
Okay, so if we look at the regional composite there’s an explosion of birds in the Northeast- and it appears that a band of movement occurs from NE to SW into our region…superficially this looks similar to the big push we saw a couple of weeks ago, which caused really high densities of passerines along the Jersey shore. If you check the two radar loops, you’ll see that initially movement across the radar is from S–>N, which reflects the light southerly winds we had early last night. At about 11:30pm, though, the motion across the radar switches to a W–>E flow, which is consistent with the WSW winds that built in around that time, but which is also greatly increased by the amount and speed of birds moving across the radar. Based on the radar, it appears that a good amount of birds did get pushed into New Jersey, with the densities highest in the northwest and decreasing as you move southeast. Because birds entered the area late last night, and were still migrating at 5:00am, it’s hard to tell where the best birding locations would be…but I’m guessing that Sandy Hook and Garret Mountain would be good bets, and Island Beach State Park could also be really good. The lack of migration activity over the southern peninsula makes me think that Cape May might not be the best bet- although it could also mean more birds are piled up down there given the lack of exodus. Okay, enough hand-waving- let’s go groundtruth!
Good Birding
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4 responses to “Caught off guard…more birds over Jersey!”
all is quiet at the hook
David you gotta check the buoy at the National Buoy Data Center before heading out to the Hook.
The buoy indicated SW winds basically all night with a change to NW at 9:40AM today.
You can see the data on http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station
The buoy is hardly ever wrong.
good birding,
Wendy
Wendy
SW and NW winds are good!
Actually, Sandy Hook was good this morning. I describe it as “a little of everything, but nothing in abundance”. That generally held, except for N. Flickers, Cedar Waxwings and American Robins.
Two birds were really cool today- CONNECTICUT WARBLER and COMMON NIGHTHAWK.
Date: 21-Sep-07 WindDesc: none Temp(F): 66 Precip: none
StartTime: 7:30 AM WindDir: SW CloudCover: none
EndTime: 10:00 AM Location: Sandy Hook
Notes: “a little of everything, nothing in abundance”
English Name Scientific Name
Sharp-shinned Hawk Accipiter striatus
Yellow-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus americanus
Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor
Ruby-throated Archilochus colubris
Hummingbird
Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus
Eastern Wood-Pewee Contopus virens
Least Flycatcher Empidonax minimus
Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe
Eastern Kingbird Tyrannus tyrannus
Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula
Swainson’s Thrush Catharus ustulatus
American Robin Turdus migratorius
Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis
Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum
Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum
Northern Parula Parula americana
Black-throated Blue Dendroica caerulescens
Warbler
Black-throated Green Dendroica virens
Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler Dendroica striata
American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla
Connecticut Warbler Oporornis agilis
Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas
Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea
Eastern Towhee Pipilo erythrophthalmus
Field Sparrow Spizella pusilla
Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia
Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana
White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis
Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater
Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula
Yo Dave,
I too got really caught off gaurd last night here in Maine. My usual 10 minutes of listening before hitting the hay produced little -4 calls in 10 minutes on clear and calm conditions.
Almost skipped my morning flight spot this morning, but thank goodness I decided to make a “quick stop.” Phew. Apparently, birds were not only moving, but moving en masse, and a slight NW component that developed by dawn following a very weak and dry cold front produced a great flight at Sandy Point and a mass WTSP fallout in Portland.
Chickity-check yo:
http://outdoors.mainetoday.com/naturewatching/fieldnotes/016223.html
Layta,
-D-Lo