Birds moving after long lull

 

Regional Overview

The winds have finally turned and birds were on the move last night for the first in days. While the winds were not coming from the south–  the preferred spring migration conditions– the winds were light and a lot of birds have been waiting for any sort of favorable winds. With the lack of any precipitation, birds should be spread across the landscape. Check traditional migrant traps and breeding locations. Excitement from this early April push will be in the scattered warblers that arrive early, such as Northern Parula, Black-and-white, Nashville and Yellow Warblers. Keep an eye out for these.

Pennsylvania

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

Western Pennsylvania saw more migration overnight that central PA, likely due to the lighter winds as you move west. Birds should be showing up in moderate densities across the region as they did manage to migrate on the slight north winds but densities of new birds should be higher as you head west.

Check out Alex’s post for an idea of birds to be expecting in the first half of April.

New York

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

Central New York also experienced some light migration as the winds stayed calm. Much like central PA, expect there to be new birds around but in low densities and spread across the landscape. Check traditional hotspots for sparrows and shorebirds (yellowlegs, pectoral and dunlin), and look for a push of White-throated Sparrows.

Ohio

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

Northern Ohio saw more action than spots further east as the winds were very calm. Ruby-crowned Kinglets should be pulsing through in higher numbers and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers should be showing up in northern Ohio. Yellow-rumped Warblers should be around in decent numbers as they make their mid-April push through the region and Pine and Yellow-throated Warblers should be found in appropriate breeding habitat. Fox Sparrows are at peak levels so get out and find them!

For migration updates or other regions check-
Woodcreeper – David focuses on Wisconsin and New Jersey
Tom Auer – Tom’s blog covers New England
Birds Over Portland – Greg blogs about the Pacific Northwest
Badbirdz Reloaded – Angel & Mariel cover Florida and the southeast
Birding the Crane Creek – Kenn Kaufman’s predictions for NW Ohio

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!