Strong northwest winds last night have lightened up this morning, but we should see them pick up again out of the west today. This is excellent news for birders in the Garden State, especially those along the coast. 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.
High pressure over the region has set up moderate to strong northwest flow, which in turn triggered a moderate to heavy flight into New Jersey. The regional composite shows most birds heading out of southern New York and northern New Jersey, and heading (based on the individual radars) on a NW->SE trajectory. The NYC radar indicates a moderate flight due south over the Atlantic, meaning that birds should be coming ashore first thing this morning. NW winds at the Sandy Hook and Cape May buoys support the notion that coastal hotspots are going to be hopping today, but migrant traps across the board will be good given the broad-front arrival of migrants apparent on the Fort Dix and Dover radars (you can see good numbers of birds moving south over the mouth of the Delaware River, as well as across the Cape May, NJ/Lewes, DE gap).
Birders, start your engines…
Good Birding
David
One response to “The west wind doth blow”
Sandy Hook was quiet considering the NW winds. Numbers were low of the expected passerines like
YTWA and both kinglets. Sparrow numbers were less than expected with a good showing of White-Crowned Sparrows. Did not see a Chipping Sparrow today. 2 Red-Breasted Nuthatches, 2 Brown Creepers. and 2 Common Yellow-throats. There was
some raptor migration with Cooper’s and SharpShinned and Red-Tailed and Red-Shouldered
Hawks.