News

Team BirdCast monitors birds and their associations with hurricanes when we can, as they provide rare opportunities to study entrainment and displacement of birds. Such storms are dangerous in the extreme, no matter what intensity, and Hurricane Harvey proves no exception. This storm is coming ashore as a Category 4 Hurricane, very strong and very dangerous!

Hurricane Harvey is rapidly intensifying in the Gulf of Mexico. This dangerous storm is forecast to strike the Texas coast on Friday night or Saturday morning as a major hurricane and then meander in the immediate vicinity of the coast for several days. Entrainment and displacement of seabirds is highly likely.

Moderate movements featuring Northern Shoveler, Killdeer, Belted Kingfisher, Warbling Vireo, MacGillivray’s Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and Western Tanager are likely in many areas of the West, while the East will see scattered moderate to heavy pulses that feature Blue-winged Teal, Common Nighthawk, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and Summer Tanager. The dangerous Hurricane Harvey will bring typical Gulf of Mexico bound seabirds and near shore species to inland locations from Texas and Louisiana to Arkansas over the course of the week.

Light to moderate flights featuring Western Grebe, Clark’s Grebe, Pectoral Sandpiper, Red-headed Woodpecker, Wilson’s Warbler, Townsend’s Warbler, and Nashville Warbler  were the norm in the West, particularly toward the end of the forecast period, while widespread moderate to locally heavy flights featuring Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, American Golden-Plover, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Nashville Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler were the norm for the East. The total solar eclipse of 21 August also featured some interesting “migration” behaviors, please see our post to check out the observations!

Conditions in the West are favorable for light to moderate migration featuring Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Red-tailed Hawk, Least Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Yellow Warbler, and MacGillivray’s Warbler in the first half of the forecast period, while moderate to heavy flights of Wood Duck, Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Great Crested Flycatcher, Yellow Warbler, and Baltimore Oriole will follow the passage of a frontal system through the East late in the period.

Olive-sided Flycatcher is another interesting species on the move that we would like to highlight. With western populations breeding significantly farther south than those in more eastern boreal forests of Canada and the northern tier of the US, the potential to examine patterns of migration progression and differences in migration progression between populations is excellent.

Upland Sandpipers are on the move (and they have been for a few weeks now). Check out our new map to show the progression of migration for this species!

Team BirdCast is thrilled to welcome its new members, namely Adriaan Dokter, Kyle Horton, and Cecilia Nilsson. Here’s the team at its first official gathering in Ithaca, NY on 10 August 2017. During fall 2017 look for biographic posts for…

Next Friday, BirdCast begins its official Fall 2017 season of weekly migration forecast and analysis reports. Additionally, we will soon be introducing a few new members of Team BirdCast, some new visualizations, and of course discussions of any interesting patterns we see (or hear). Stay tuned!

In June 2017 numerous observers around the Northeastern US commented that Dickcissels were more obvious, and in greater numbers, than years in recent memory. Team BirdCast take a quick look at this pattern and how it changed (or not!) over the weeks that followed.

BirdCast will soon return for Fall 2017! Favorable migration conditions for light to moderate flights become more widespread across the West, while the East sees a mix of marginal and locally favorable migration conditions with local light and moderate movements punctuate an otherwise summery pattern. Please check back in the coming week for the first official forecast and analysis posts!

Late season light to moderate flights will occur in widely scattered locations during the forecast period and feature Common Nighthawk, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Cedar Waxwing, and Brewer’s Sparrow, while the most widespread favorable conditions for moderate to locally heavy flights featuring Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Acadian Flycatcher, Blue Grosbeak, Dickcissel, Grasshopper Sparrow, and Henslow’s Sparrow in the East come during the weekend and end of the period.