Variable wind direction and speed resulted in very different migration magnitudes across the region last night. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.
Frames are every 1/2 hour. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.
Once again the regional composite really gives the best impression of what went on last night. West winds over most of New York State clearly moderated the number of birds taking flight last night, while northwest winds over New Jersey triggered a heavier movement. This appears to have resulted in a disproportionate number of birds leaving, rather than arriving in, the Mid-Atlantic. Further south and west over the District of Columbia it appears that some thunderstorms moved up on the stationary front over the region, possibly truncating what looked like moderate to heavy migration. Any reports from that region would be interesting to hear about!
Each of the local radars did indicate moderate levels of migration, with most birds heading NE->SW over Eastern NY, N->S over northern New Jersey, and NE->SW over southern New Jersey. All of these are consistent with the shifting winds last night, which finally turned northeasterly early this morning. Expect these conditions to favor inland migration hotspots such as Liberty State Park (okay, not exactly “inland”, but good numbers of birds were headed SW over Manhattan last night), Glenhurst Meadows, Chimney Rock, and the National Park Dredge Spoils. Coastal hotspots today will not be as good as those inland… we’ll just have to wait until the next big push later in the week! Finally, hawkwatches across the region should see a good raptor flight throughout the day, and the Avalon Seawatch would be a great place to visit on this very fine fall morning especially with northeast winds bringing birds closer to shore.
Good Birding
David
5 responses to “Birds overhead”
There were indeed birds at LSP this morning. Lots of Blackpolls, Palm Warblers, Flickers, Phoebes, both kinglets, Creepers, White throats, White crowned Sparrow, Swainson’s and Gray-cheeked Thrush. A worthwhile morning. Good call. Congratulations!
One hour of birding at the National Park dredge spoils in Gloucester County, NJ. Cloudy, 65 degrees or so. Light NE winds. A very different kind of morning than what I have been getting there! Not many species, but good numbers of what I had.
12 EASTERN PHOEBES
30 or so BLUE JAYS
2 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS
3 BROWN THRASHERS
22 PALM WARBLERS
11 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS
8 INDIGO BUNTINGS
3 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS
More GOLDFINCHES than I have been seeing there.
Active morning at Chimney Rock.
Many BT Blues 25+
BT Greens, Blackpolls, Cape May, Bay-breasted, Parula B&W, Tanagers RB Nuts, Swainsons & Grey-cheeked Thrushes, Purple Finch, Creeper, Sapsuckers, GC & RC Kinglets, Indigo Bunting, Phoebes, lots of Waxwings…….
I hear/read Merrill Creek and other N.Jerze spots had equally good flights and diversity.
Nice early Hawk flight at the Rock too.
Sandy Hook this morning had very good numbers of GC Kinglets and Phoebes with some RC Kinglets thrown in. RB Nuthatches were well represented.
Heard of a White-throated and White Crowned Sparrow as well as Brown Creeper. 2 Salt Marsh and 1 Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow were on Plum Island. Don’t know if these could be the same birds from last weekend. Warbler species were extremely low. A very late Blue-winged warbler was tallied.
Congratulations on your new liitle girl! Glad all are doing well!