Another night of storms and strong coastal migration

Regional Overview

Last night a large front passed through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast which really slowed migration over most of the region except for the coast and just inland from the coast. Albany, New York City and coastal New Jersey are likely to experience some excellent fallout conditions were the front hit some of the strongest migration yet this spring. Get out there and bird! The diversity should be particularly high right now with the possibility for 30+ species of warbler if you hit the right spots.


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

The front moved through too early for much of the state to experience any migratory influx. The storms passed through much of the state before midnight but not soon enough to clear out before morning leaving no chance for birds to start again in the morning hours. Albany and Long Island were set up for a good migration when the rain moved in around and after midnight, and there could be widespread fallout in those areas.

Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.


Pennsylvania & New Jersey

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Ohio

Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.


Maryland and Delaware

Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.


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-

Upper Midwest – Woodcreeper by David La Puma
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
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
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!