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2May/121

Moderate to heavy migration, with a mix of storms moving through

Regional Overview

For the third night in a row, migration was good across much of the region. Some precipitation did move through the area, hopefully resulting in some local concentrations of migrants. South winds were key in the mass migration and may provide great hawk watching conditions along the lake and ridges. The bulk of migrants in the region has shifted to warblers and other Neo-tropical migrants.

Pennsylvania

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Rain moved through sw PA while the nights migration was just getting picked up. It was likely too far south for any type of fallout and the storms may have prevented an influx from further south. Central and eastern PA experienced moderate to heavy migration last night and there should be many new arrivals. The precipitation did not seem to affect the flight much and I expect birders to be picking up new species where ever they are birding.

As always, please leave me comments on what you find out in the field.

Maryland

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Maryland prediction coming soon...

New York

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New York saw moderate to heavy migration last night so they should expect to be getting many of the warbler species that PA has seen in the last day or two.

Ohio

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Northern Ohio experienced moderate migration (heavy in ne Ohio) as the storms moved through while southern Ohio experienced heavy migration once the storms passed. Kenn Kaufman indicated that migrants in western Ohio were widespread yesterday but I think the strong flight in southern Ohio may cause a strong influx for places like Magee Marsh.

Check Kenn Kaufman's blog for more specifics on what to expect this time of year.

For migration updates or other regions check-
New England - Tom Auer's blog
New Jersey - Woodcreeper by David La Puma
Florida/SE - Badbirdz Reloaded by Angel and Mariel Abreu
NW Ohio - Birding the Crane Creek by Kenn Kaufman
Wisconsin - Woodcreeper by David La Puma
Arizona - Words About Birds by Tim Schreckengost
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!

Filed under: migration update, predictions, radar 1 Comment

1May/120

The warblers are back!

written by Alex Lamoreaux

This morning a few of us birded Lederer Park and Walnut Springs Park in State College, which was loaded with migrants. This morning was the second morning in a row here in Centre County that I have seen good numbers of warblers and other migrants. Highlights were 15 species of warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles, and a Scarlet Tanager. Here is a link to our checklist for Lederer from 9:10am till 9:45am. Another Lederer list from 10:20am till 11:20am. Here is our list from Walnut Springs from 8:50am till 9:05am. At this rate, things look great for us to be able to rack up a nice warbler list for the Birding Cup! I can't wait to see what other FOY species show up this week.

Blue-winged Warbler - male (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Warblers included:
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
American Redstart
Pine Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Ovenbird

Least Flycatcher (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Filed under: 150 ticks project, bird finding, bird sightings, birding, migration, sparrows, trip reports, warblers, weather No Comments

1May/123

Moderate migration with fallout possibilities

written by Drew Weber

Regional Overview

The radar was lively again with migrating birds as they took advantage of south winds for the first time in days. A front moved through the region overnight, bringing the possibility of fallout conditions as it moved through Ohio before midnight and Pennsylvania in the early morning hours. Generally the rule of thumb is that areas that experienced the rain after midnight have the best chance to see some fallout, but I think it is likely that some birds were still grounded by the earlier rain and will be around this morning.

Pennsylvania

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THe precipitation moved through Pennsylvania after midnight, and migration was going pretty strong when it moved through. This looks great for creating some localized concentrations of migrants that were stopped mid-flight (ie. fallout!). Good places to look are local migrant traps and along any lakes, rivers, ridges, and forest edges that can act as concentrating areas for migrants that were landing during the storm.

As always, please leave me comments on what you find out in the field.

Maryland

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Maryland prediction coming soon...

New York

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New York prediction coming soon...

Ohio

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Ohio could be interesting as the storms moved through while a lot of birds were flying particularly in the southeastern half of the state. It doesn't appear that birds picked up and migrated in big numbers after the storm moved through because the velocity radar doesn't show any northward movement. The precipitation may have come too early for the Crane Creek area, but check Kenn Kaufman's blog for better ideas of what is going on there.

Check Kenn Kaufman's blog for more specifics on what to expect this time of year.

Filed under: migration update, predictions, radar 3 Comments

30Apr/120

An interesting night of migration on north winds

written by Drew Weber

Regional Overview

Looks like the radar is up! So here is a belated post of the interesting conditions last night.

Last night was an interesting night of migration. The north winds at the beginning of the night created what one would guess to be poor migration conditions, however, the birds still decided to fly as the winds died down and changed more from the east. Check out the PA and NY radars to see what looks like a cloud of migrants taking off over the southern part of Pennsylvania and flying up to reach New York by the early morning hours.

Pennsylvania

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The central PA radar showed a very interesting pattern on the radar, with what appeared to be a concentration of birds moving up through the center part of the state. In fact, between 1am and 4am last night, it appears that there was a large pulse of migrants that took to the skies and headed north. This shows up on all of the radar stations covering PA and this influx seems to have been verified from the reports coming in from the field.

As always, please leave me comments on what you find out in the field.

Maryland

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Maryland showed moderate and evenly distributed migration last night. There were a lot og birds moving over the region

New York

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New York may have also experienced a nice influx of new species as you can see the 'bloom' of migrants on the radar starting in PA and heading north in the early morning hours.

Ohio

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Ohio saw the strongest migration in the region, with lots of migrants registering on the radar the whole night. It sounds like nw Ohio had an excellent morning. We can see the rain showers moving through early in the morning which may have encouraged some birds down to the ground.

Check Kenn Kaufman's blog for more specifics on what to expect this time of year.