National Overview

Another night of heavy migration across the U.S. east of the Rockies last night and into this morning! If you’ve been reading over the last few days, you know about this frontal boundary that keeps pushing north and allowing more birds to make their way into the northern reaches of the country. Well, it’s stationed over Great Lakes right now which is why you see the storm line right through the Upper Midwest. That part of the country will experience good to excellent birding conditions again today. High Pressure over the Mid Atlantic may have stalled some birds out there, but the Ohio Valley and western New York got a new shot of birds this morning too. All across the south birds were cruising north last night including new arrivals from Mexico and the Caribbean. On the Left Coast the Central Valley of California appears to have had some migration while the Pacific NW was under some heavy precipitation. Be sure to check with the regional sites linked at the bottom of this post (and on the sidebar to the right) to get the details for each.

Below are the radar loops from sunset last night through 5:00am (central time) this morning

Since I will be publishing “as I go” each morning you may see some incomplete posts throughout the early morning hours. Don’t worry- it’s coming!

Mid Atlantic

Delaware & New Jersey

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

The Mid Atlantic was cranking last night, although the surface high over New Jersey appears to have kept much from moving. The most interesting thing, though, is the arrival of a frontal boundary in the early morning which clearly brought with it a big pulse of birds. These birds were deposited along the western Delmarva, around Newark, DE, and along the Delaware River (NJ and PA) to the western Delaware Bay shore. Birders in those areas should definitely get out this morning to see whether fallout conditions occurred. Looking at the radar you can see this as a large blue blob of reflectivity on the advancing edge of the front. The reflectivity drops out as the front passes suggesting birds heading for cover.  Otherwise things were quiet across the Garden State, so expect little change elsewhere.

Upper Midwest

Iowa & Illinois

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

Wash, rinse, repeat! The floodgates remain open and birds were bookin’ up through IA and IL last night. Migration across IA was widespread and HUGE! but many of the arrivals will be dispersed across the landscape today so birders should focus on tried-and-true spring migrant traps for the best diversity and density. Closer to the lake, Chicago was under some of the heaviest migration this season and westerly winds were really concentrating these birds along the lake shore. Birders in the area should hit the lake shore first thing, or some of the known migrant traps such as Palos Woods.

Wisconsin

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

BANG BANG! (that’s the sound of a double-header). I’ve got to get out the door- because it’s going to be awesome out there, again. Speaking of doors, the Door Peninsula is covered with birds that moved over Milwaukee and Green Bay last night- any birder on the peninsula should be outside NOW. Milwaukee radar showed another big influx from the Chicago area and those birds are concentrated along the lake shore as well. Go birding. Check out the La Crosse radar where you can see birds initially head for the Mississippi River corridor only to be blown east as the storms pushed in and west winds took over. Birders around La Crosse should be birding the city parks and hotspots along the Wisconsin river. A second big wave can actually be seen arriving after the storms passed! Things really heated up to the north as well, so check out Max’s North Woods blog for details. Please don’t forget to report back- the two-way street is much more satisfying and productive!! I’ll see you in the field!

As always, woodcreeper.com depends on YOU to report your sightings and be our ‘eyes on the ground’, so please come back and give us an idea of how we’re doing predicting birding conditions in your neck of the woods.

For migration updates in other regions check-

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – The Northwoods BIRDAR by Max Henschell <- NEW!
New England – Tom Auer’s blog
Florida/SE – Badbirdz Reloaded by Angel and Mariel Abreu
PA/Ohio Valley – Nemesis Bird by Drew Weber
NW Ohio – Birding the Crane Creek by Kenn Kaufman
Arizona – Words About Birds by Tim Schreckengost <- NEW!
Pac NW – Birds Over Portland by Greg Haworth
Continental US – eBird BirdCast Forecast & Report by Team eBird