Hmmm… I would have thought that with upper level winds blowing southwest, we would have seen more in terms of migration last night. 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.

What is clear from the radar, is that some birds did take off after sunset last night, and most movement was from the SW–>NE. What isn’t entirely clear is why bird migration wound down so soon after midnight. According to the radar, there appears to have been a wind shift out of the west after midnight, although the local weather station here in Somerset indicates that winds were light and variable. Either way, birds appear to have truncated migration around that time.

Expect birding conditions to remain similar to yesterday, with some dispersal of birds across the landscape (which could lead to less birds at any one particular location). My place was loaded with birds yesterday (many Magnolia Warblers, a Canada, B&W, Chestnut Sided, FOS Blue-wings too numerous to all be local breeders, etc.). I suspect some of these have moved on as of this morning.

Good Birding

David

P.S. Come check out my migration forecast for the Mid-Atlantic on Birdcapemay.org

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