As Dylan said…


…the Levee’s Gonna Break

Here’s the radar from 7:30pm last night through 5:00am this morning.

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

Base Reflectivity image from Fort Dix Base Velocity image from Fort Dix Base Reflectivity image from Dover AFB Base Velocity image from Dover AFB Base Reflectivity image from Upton NY Base Velocity image from Upton NY Composite Base Reflectivity image from the Northeastern USA

Light and variable surface winds coupled with moderate (10-15kt) upper-level winds set the stage for an ‘uncorking’ of what was a  migration bottleneck across the Northeastern US. Actually, migration was evident and often heavy across all three of the major routes east of the Rockies last night: the Central, Mississippi and Eastern flyways. In the northeast migration was heavy from Maine to the Ohio Valley and east to the coast, with the main trajectory of birds being NE->SW on account of the easterly component to the winds. As I watched the migration event develop on the radar into late last night, it became clear that this would produce birds at both coastal and inland hotspots this morning. While northeast winds are never optimal for coastal locations (you can only imagine how much better Cape May or Sandy Hook would be if the winds were out of the NW last night), the sheer volume of birds apparently launching off of the MA and NY coast last night meant that numerous birds would be coming ashore along the NJ coast this morning. That appears to be the case as initial reports of nocturnal flight calls indicate an excellent Bobolink and Thrush flight already at Cape May (thanks to Tom Johnson’s ‘wake up’ text at 5:30am) with very few warbler calls being heard in comparison (I’d expect more of the smaller-bodied birds to be inland this morning while the strong fliers would care less about making the inshore coastal flight).

So for this morning the highest diversity and density will still be at inland migrant traps with the interior ridges (Chimney Rock in C. NJ) and sites along the Delaware River (Washington Crossing SP, Palmyra, Natl. Park dredge spoils, etc.) and the northern bayshore (East Point Light).

Cape May is setting up to have a good-to-excellent morning flight and should see decent birding conditions throughout the day as the winds begin to cooperate a little more. NW winds will build in to our north bringing the possibility of some raptor action later today. The real fun looks to be tonight as NW winds trigger a second night of migration across the northeastern US, this one more poised for bringing many birds to coastal migrant traps on Saturday morning and triggering our first real raptor flight of the 2011 season.

There are plenty of birds out there – so go find them (and make sure to report back and let us know what you see!)

Good Birding

David


5 responses to “As Dylan said…”

  1. A decent smattering of passerine migrants this morning at Liberty SP.

    Several Veeries and a couple of Swainson’s Thrushes. Redstarts, and amongst others, singles of Scarlet Tanager, Canada, Magnolia, N.Waterthrush, amongst the glimpsed.
    Incoming numbers of Catbirds, Robins and Common Y-throats as well.

    All of this was nice but seemed less relevant considering the appetizer was a Black-necked Stilt flying off the Interpretive Center pond.

    Hopefully a decent push of raptors later today at Chimney Rock.
    Simon

  2. Did not go birding this morning but about 100 common grackles stopped by in the back of our house awhile ago. So knew something was up.

  3. Maria Greenwald Park is a spot 2 miles from my house in Camden County.
    NJ DeLorme – Map 54 – C13. It’s maybe 7 miles NE of Wheelabrator on
    the Delaware. Map 54 – E6. Greenwald Park is a nice strip of woods and brushy
    areas that runs for miles through the heart of a dense developed part of Camden
    County. It was really good this morning! I don’t bird here often in the fall, so
    can’t say if this was normal given the winds.
    6 FLICKERS
    10 BLUE JAYS
    1 HOUSE WREN
    2 VEERYS
    2 WARBLING VIREOS
    1 RED-EYED VIREO
    1 TENNESSEE WARBLER
    3 PARULAS
    1 CHESTNUT-SIDED
    3 MAGNOLIA WARBLERS
    1 CAPE MAY
    1 BLACKBURNIAN
    1 BLACKPOLL
    6 BLACK and WHITE WARBLERS
    25 REDSTARTS – with many adult males.
    1 OVENBIRD
    1 NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH
    1 CONNECTICUT WARBLER
    4 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS
    2 CANADA WARBLERS
    1 WILSON’S WARBLER
    GOLDFINCHES – no Bobolinks overhead here!
    2 BALTIMORE ORIOLES

  4. Great Shorebird numbers and species diversity bith in DC and in the surrounding metro region! Highlights in DC included Stilt Sandpiper and White Ibis. Also, Golden-winged Warbler was reported in DC’s Rock Creek Park. Everything should have been reported to eBird!

  5. I wasn’t really out birding yesterday, but I did have a Common Yellowthroat on someone’s front porch in Nutley (Essex County), and I had an adult Bald Eagle heading south at the Delawanna train station in Clifton (Passaic County.)

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