National Overview
With the exception of the southeastern U.S. being under heavy precipitation, most of the country experienced moderate to heavy migration last night. I’m going to keep this short and sweet in the interest of catching up from being away for two days… and my desire to get outside where the birdsong is almost deafening!
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.
Migration was hot and heavy along the east coast last night, at least wherever precipitation hadn’t taken hold before sunset. Looking at the radar you can see heavy movement out of the Delmarva and over New Jersey throughout the night with most birds heading on a strong SW->NE trajectory. Precipitation did cut off the source of migration eventually last night, but not before a good number of birds made it into the state. I expect good to excellent migration conditions at spring migrant traps throughout NJ today with some of the better birding being at Sandy Hook and other coastal hotspots to the north. Garret Mountain should also see new birds but the eastward trend in migration will favor coastal locations today.
Upper Midwest
Iowa & Illinois
Frames are every 1/2 hour. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.
Migration was light to moderate up through the Midwest last night and the IA and IL radars reflect that. Pre-sunset conditions were clear skies and light northerly winds which are reflected in the velocity images (low velocities with a NNE->SSW trajectory). As birds take to the sky the trajectory switches reflecting the increase in northbound targets (birds) entering the radar’s view. As is typical under non-optimal conditions, migration wanes quickly after midnight as birds begin to put down. Expect birds to be dispersed across the landscape today with little concentration at any one location.
Wisconsin
Frames are every 1/2 hour. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.
As with IA and IL, the Wisconsin radar indicated a typical migration pattern when under sub-optimal conditions. Expect birds to be dispersed across the landscape today with the best birding conditions being at spring migrant traps and areas of high breeding bird diversity and densities.
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!
New Mexico – Albuquerque Birding by Matt O’Donnell <- NEW!
Pac NW – Birds Over Portland by Greg Haworth
Continental US – eBird BirdCast Forecast & Report by Team eBird
One response to “More birds moving north”
We went to Sandy Hook this morning and it seemed as though a lot of the birds that were present yesterday moved on. Numbers were much lower as was species diversity. We had 16 sp. warbler with Common YT, Magnolia, No.Waterthrush and American Redstart most numerous. We heard that there were Alder FC around and did see a male Summer Tanager. Some White-Throated Sparrows as well as 1 adult White-crowned Sparrow. Yesterday there were 24sp of warbler with large numbers from many species. There were also 3 Mississipi Kites and 4 Mourning Warblers yesterday. We did not see any of the Kites or Mourning Warblers unfortunately.