Regional Overview
Last night, the south winds really reduced the magnitude of migration compared to previous nights. There was still some signs of migrants on the radar so you can expect some new arrivals but it won’t be like earlier in the week.
I don’t always have time to comment on the radar in each state. To interpret it yourself, read the quick tutorial at the bottom of the page.
New York
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The radar stations at Buffalo and Ft Drum showed very little southward movement on the velocity radar while Albany and Binghampton did show the typical southward movement of migrants. This can probably be explained by the earlier arrival of south winds at this location.
Pennsylvania & New Jersey
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Eastern PA and New Jersey saw the most activity before south winds arrived. Further west in PA migration was very light.
Ohio
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Ohio looked dead on the radar, particularly in the northern part of have state. In fact, velocity radar detected only northbound movement near the lake which is a lousy sign of no migrant.
Maryland and Delaware
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Delaware and Maryland saw the strongest migration in the region and velocity radar showed birds moving south it will be interesting to see what Tim reports finding as he may get everything that is leaving PA
Quick guide to interpreting the radar
On the top row (reflectivity radar), the images show the magnitude of migration. When birds are migrating, it looks like a donut shape around the center of the radar station.
The bottom row is the velocity radar. This shows the direction that the objects detected by the radar station are moving. Blues are moving towards the radar station, yellows and reds are moving away from the station. So for southbound migration, blue should be on the top half of the donut, yellow on the bottom half.
Watch for precipitation moving through during the night hours, this can cause birds to stop migrating in a concentrated area, creating the fabled ‘fallout’, particularly on nights with strong migration.
For more in depth info, watch this video.
For migration updates or other regions check-
Pac NW – Birds Over Portland by Greg Haworth
I need your help! These reports will only be as good as the feedback I get on these updates. Please leave comments on interesting patterns of migration you are seeing in the field so I can incorporate some ground truthing to my forecasts and predictions. Thanks!