Regional Overview South winds dominated across most of the region, touching off another night of moderate migration. A low pressure system is pushing through the area and reached as far east as the western edge of PA last night. I think there is great potential for fallout conditions from this front, particularly in places where it passed through after midnight. Pennsylvania Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation. The radar was alive with migrants across the state, both on the State College and Pittsburgh radars. Velocity radar showed movement to the NNE the entire night at appropriate speeds to indicate birds. With the entire east coast experiencing these good migration conditions, expect a fair amount of turnover. Many of the warbler species should now be somewhere in the state, although still at low numbers.
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Forster’s Tern – Toftrees, Centre Co (photo by Alex) Each year on the second Saturday of May, Pennsylvania birders hit the forests, lakes and fields to find as many species as they can in each county. This is a great opportunity to get out and bird at the peak of spring warbler migration. The goal of the project is to gain a better understanding of the populations of birds as they migrate through the state. However, since the sightings are lumped together at the county level, only very broad questions can be answered with the data. To take it to the next level, consider entering your sightings into eBird. Since eBird uses precise locations for all checklists, as well as effort information (distance walked, time of day, hours birding) researchers using the data can look at effects of habitat, time of day and weather on bird activity.
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Regional Overview It was a decent night of migration up the east coast and across the Ohio Valley. Migration was strongest on the Gulf Coast (LA, MS, AL) and northward through Ohio and Indiana. Winds were from the south across the region and allowed a lot of birds to migrate. A large front is moving towards us through the Midwest and could impact Ohio today but the arrival of any precipitation was too late for any fallout today. Pennsylvania Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation. Pennsylvania showed the least activity on the radar of all the states, maybe due to the non-existent winds to our south. Birds were showing up on the radar to our north so we may experience a net loss of birds, but this time of year it is always good to get out because there are new arrivals showing up daily in most conditions.
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Regional Overview Migration was moderate last night north of the precipitation that moved through the lower mid-Atlantic. Winds were south but relatively across the region which allowed birds to move. With no precipitation to slow birds down in our region, expect birds to be widely scattered across the landscape. Check traditional inland migrant traps for new birds. A broad range of warblers are now being found in small numbers across the region, Ohio has already reported 20 species of warblers this spring! Pennsylvania Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation. Pennsylvania showed moderate migration across the state, but once again, it was stronger in the western part of the state as the band of precipitation to the south blocked new movement into the eastern part of the state. Check the traditional inland migrant traps such as small woodlots in urban areas for higher concentrations of new species.
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This morning, a few of my friends and I went back over to Howard to see the continuing Harris’s Sparrow. The bird was very cooperative and was present at the bird feeders as soon as we arrived. We were able to watch it for quite a while, when it would come in to the feeder and sit there eating nonstop for at least 4 or 5 minutes at a time. Afterwards, we checked a few spots around Bald Eagle SP for migrants. At Lower Greens Run, we scoped out the flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls loafing on a spit of land near a large group of cormorants. Out of nowhere, the gulls took flight.
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To get the updates out earlier, I may post incomplete updates in the morning with all the radar animations and then update the text as I am able to. Regional Overview Migration was hot and heavy in the southeast and up the Central Flyway but storms and north winds combined to keep migrants down in the Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. It looks like we will be getting south winds tonight through Friday or Saturday so expect the next big push later this week. As always, please leave me comments on what you find out in the field. Pennsylvania Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation. The velocity radar did not show much of a directional component, but when they did everything was moving south at the same rate as the wind.
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On Monday April 16, like most mornings, I was birding my Somerset Lake IBA route. The day before was an incredible day here, but this am started pretty slowly. Passerines were a bit quieter and waterfowl numbers much lower. It was sunny, with a clear blue sky, about 70-75 degrees, and it was fairly breezy with strong gusts from the south-west. About the only thing going by, and in fairly big numbers, were migrating Red Admirals and Question Marks. This movement started in earnest the day before, and was likely brought on by the strong south-west winds. In fact, many of these could have come from Texas with April 5 and 6th getting reports of 100s per site migrating north (keep this in mind later on).
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Yesterday morning, Bob Snyder was leaving his house in Howard, PA to go to work when he noticed an interesting sparrow at his backyard bird feeders. After snapping a few photos, Bob realized it was an adult Harris’s Sparrow! This morning, Drew Weber and I drove over to Bald Eagle State Park while we waited to hear back from Bob about whether or not we could watch the feeders at his house. Bob called and gave us the ok, and so we sat and waited. After just a few minutes, I spotted a White-throated Sparrow come in to the feeders and out of nowhere, the Harris’s Sparrow was right in front of us! Below are a few photos I took of the bird.
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This evening, PA birder Katie Andersen was hiking along the Pine Tree Trail at Presque Isle State Park in nw PA. She noticed a lack in songbirds in that area, but quickly realized why when she saw, and photographed, this Merlin perched right next to a male American Kestrel!! I don’t understand how those two species could tolerate being right next to each other – typically they wouldn’t allow the other anywhere near them.
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This time of year, some raptors can show some pretty extreme molt and feather wear, leading to tricky identification. Alex has posted about this on a previous post. Young birds hatched last year are replacing their juvenal feathers with adult feathers and this transition can create some interesting looking birds like the unfortunate Red-tailed Hawk below which is missing several primaries in the wings and all of its rectrices (tail feathers).
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