Regional Overview
Migration was light in most areas as the precipitation associated with the cold front moved off of the East Coast. Winds were scattered but not from the north unlike the Southeast which had great winds last night and consequently had another great night of migration. Sparrows, kinglets, and the final pushes of warblers should be queueing up for the next good night of migration.
Wednesday night should be our next chance for migration and then again Friday night as several fronts work their way east but manage to keep most of the winds from the south. There are going to be a lot of winds channeling directly from the Southwest to the Northeast so keep your eyes open for vagrants such as Ash-throated Flycatcher, and western warbler species.
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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Pennsylvania & New Jersey
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Ohio
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Maryland and Delaware
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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!