A good night of migration

Regional Overview

It was a good night of migration as the long line of storm systems passed east of us leaving us with cooler temperatures and west or northwest winds. These are great conditions for migration and birds responded with one of the better nights this fall so far.

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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Presque Isle and the Lake Erie shore could be the interesting place to be today. During a night of good movement, there were small storms passing through during the early morning hours which may have put down birds as soon as they could see land.

The New Jersey coast could also see a fallout conditions as migration continued as the last of the storms passed off the coast.


Ohio

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Ohio prediction coming soon…


Maryland and Delaware

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Prediction coming soon…


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!