Well, I guess you could call this “yesterday, light”, since the conditions were about the same as yesterday but the bird density coming into the state was a little lower. 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.

Moderate northwesterly winds turned westerly overnight and birds were on the move across NJ and eastern New England. Less birds headed out over the Atlantic via the Northeast coast last night, which is probably the biggest difference between the two. Don’t get too excited when you see the Fort Dix radar loop, the color coding must have been on the fritz and many of the images got saturated in the green range, which (if correct) would have meant an enormous (unprecedented, even) number of birds. I assure you that was not the case, but there was a heavy flight typical for this time of year and consistent with the density values (correctly) displayed in the Dover radar loop.

Coastal spots are where it’s at today, and strong west winds promise to hold birds there throughout the day. Wherever you can go birding, though, should be good given the number of birds in the system right now. Sparrows and raptors are the tickets- so find your favorite October haunt and get out there!

Good Birding

David