Heavy migration over the Northeast and mid-Atlantic

I haven’t been able to ask them directly, but judging by the back-to-back migration events over the last nine nights, I’d say that the birds must be quite happy with the weather (at least up here in the NE and mid-Atlantic). Last night was no exception, and migration was heavy to moderate from the Central flyway all the way to the east coast. Here’s the radar from 6:00pm last night through 6:00am this morning.

Frames are every 1/2 hour. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.

After sunset last night the winds aloft were southwesterly at around 10kts, which explains the general NNW->SSE trajectory of bird migration over New Jersey through most of the night. Throughout the night, though, the winds turned more northerly, and remain northerly over northern NJ, and slightly northwesterly over southern New Jersey as of 6:30am. Surface winds are variable today, with the Sandy Hook buoy reading ESE this morning, and the Wildwood Airport reporting light northerlies.

So, where to bird. Based on the northwesterly component, I would have to say the dike at Higbee’s Beach would be a great place to be first thing this morning. Birds were clearly being pushed towards the coast overnight, and no strong easterly winds built in this morning which might have pushed them back inland. The dike should be excellent today. I have a feeling that interior ridges will be good today, especially in the north where the predominant winds were more northerly than northwesterly. Coastal locations should be good as well, although I wouldn’t expect a pile-up of migrants anywhere except the southern coast. In my experience Sandy Hook is not a safe bet with easterly winds… but I’m sure someone will find some crazy cool bird there today anyway.

Good Birding, and please report back to let us know how it was out there! (also please read my post from last night, just below this one)

David