Regional Overview
A large storm that continues to drift eastward across a continent and the stationary front parked over PA seemed to temper migration some last night. If you check out the Hurtado animation for last night, you can see that migration seemed to flow out of the Mid-Atlantic states up into New York. Overall, migration seemed stronger inland than along the coast.
#FalloutAlert
Ohio migration was going along at a good clip while the storm moved through. There is a good chance of grounded birds across the state. Check your local patches for higher than normal concentrations of Chipping and Field Sparrows, the early warblers, shorebirds and waterfowl.
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
Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.
Pennsylvania & New Jersey
Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.
Ohio
Ohio may have been in the perfect spot as far as when the storm passed over to experience fallout conditions. Migration was only light to moderate so this won’t be like a fallout you would see in the beginning of May, but there is a chance to wrack up good numbers and species lists if you get out and bird in the rain as the storm passes through.
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!