…and in the evening it’s Birds…

National overview

Birds were migrating last night across the western half of the US; up through Texas, the Gulf Coast, and Florida, and on the leading edge of this wacky front from the Upper Midwest to New York and down to the Smoky Mountains. Again, the best way to get an appreciation for this migration event is to check out Paul Hurtado’s radar loop from 3pm yesterday until this morning.

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

Upper Midwest

Minnesota

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

Moderate levels of migration (15-20 dBZ) were apparent on both the Twin Cities and Duluth radars last night with the bulk of migrants flowing into the forecast area from the southwest. This suggests that birders will find more birds of greater diversity at local patches this morning. Given the recent addition of snow to the area, locating open habitat where birds can successfully forage, or targeting feeding stations, will produce the best birding results today.

Wisconsin

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

Migration was again heavy over parts of Wisconsin last night with the heaviest movements being along the northern Lake Michigan shoreline, and up the Mississippi River drainage. Returns in the 25 dBZ range were plentiful over La Crosse, Green Bay and the east side of the Milwaukee radar, with birds heading in a general SE->NW direction. Hence inland sites in the southern part of the forecast area should be favored this morning. In the northeast quarter of the state we saw a large influx of new birds from across Lake Michigan making landfall along the Door Peninsula and the western Green Bay shoreline, so expect new birds throughout that region including the counties to the west along the Upper Peninsula border. Birders throughout the northwestern portion of Wisconsin should see some new FOS birds this morning, although the snow cover will dictate where birds will end up today so follow your intuition and find the open areas and active feeders for best results.

Iowa & Illinois

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

Migration was slower over northern IA and IL as conditions were less than optimal the closer to the stationary front you got. Birds did get up over the region last night but at lighter densities than farther north (10-15 dBZ vs 20-25 dBZ) and most had landed well before civil daylight. Given the heading of birds last night expect inland hotspots to be best this morning with lakeshore locations also producing good birds, just not at the same densities as those along the main trajectory.

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.

Good Birding,

David

For migration updates in other regions check-

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula - The Northwoods BIRDAR by Max Henschell
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
Pac NW - Birds Over Portland by Greg Haworth
Continental US - eBird BirdCast Forecast & Report by Team eBird