BirdCast sets a new spring migration record!

In fall 2023 and 2025 BirdCast live maps showcased our three biggest nights ever – 6 October 2023, 25 September and 8 October 2025 – with over a billion birds on each of these amazing nights. More birds migrate in fall than in spring, the simple result of the breeding season productivity of many pairs of birds fledging young during the northern hemisphere summer. But last night, something amazing happened – for the first time, our live migration map showed an enormous record-breaking spring number of nearly 858 million birds! That this number is closing on one billion in spring is staggering, and it represents the intersection of peak spring migration periods in many areas, with some rather intense, bird-concentrating weather en route, and of course the trusty sensing of our skies by the U.S. weather surveillance radar network.

This enormous movement saw its greatest numbers in the central U.S., with notable concentrations in Missouri – more than 75 million birds crossed the state last night!