Northwest winds, northwest winds, that’s all I kept reading in the forecast… well, whattayaknow, these birds got the itch and they’re going north regardless of the wind forecast! Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 8:30am 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.
The velocity image indicates that, indeed, the winds were blowing WNW across New Jersey just after sunset, but soon after you can see birds take to the sky on a SW–>NE trajectory. Migration was moderate, for the most part, but did peak out at pretty high densities around midnight. I’m assuming that the clear skies and very stable atmosphere was enough to tempt birds whose hormone levels were just screaming “GET ME UP THERE!”. Good numbers of birds were still flying early this morning, but as I walked my dog at 8:00am I could hear plenty of new birds in the yard and woods. I counted four Black-throated Green Warblers (which do not breed here) on my quick jog around the edge of the woods, and Swainson’s Thrush and Veery could be heard calling and singing respectively. All the regular breeders are back on territory, but I’m sure there are a few interesting migrants to be found around here today… and I guess that Garret Mountain, Cape May and Sandy Hook will all be great locations this morning.
Good Birding
David
P.S. Come check out my migration forecast for the Mid-Atlantic on Birdcapemay.org
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Posted by: David La Puma
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