Regional Overview
Migration was strong across most parts of the region last night as the winds turned and came out of the west and northwest. There were some scattered showers moving across Ohio and northwestern Ohio that may have resulted in migrant concentrations and a larger storm that moved through parts of New York. Elsewhere the migration was pretty strong.
Looking ahead, winds tonight will be directly from the west or southwest which may temper migration. The next night with northwest winds will be Wednesday night and then conditions may stay good until a storm moves through over the weekend.
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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The storm system that moved through CNY and northern NY early this morning passed through as migration was booming. The migration never really recovered which hints at birds been put down. Check migrant traps this morning!
Pennsylvania & New Jersey
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Pennsylvania experienced some good migration over its skies last night. Central PA was slowed a little as a storm system worked through but there was still southbound migration happening. New Jersey had to deal with a storm along the coast for a longer period of time so it doesn’t look like the migration every really got bumping. Once it passed off the coast after midnight, it does look like a lot more birds took the the sky to head south though. The interesting thing will be whether arrivals from further north were slowed by the storm and stopped somewhere along the NJ 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!