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Mostly unfavorable conditions for migration dominate in the West, restricting light to moderate flights of Green Heron, Black-bellied Plover, Ash-throated Flycatcher, American Pipit, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Golden-crowned Sparrow to late in the period or local distributions, while mid and late period southerly flow will bring an influx of Caspian Tern, Forster’s Tern, Barn Swallow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Prothonotary Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Palm Warbler, Summer Tanager, Lark Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, and Blue Grosbeak in moderate to locally heavy movements. Fallout potential on the Gulf Coast arrives on Monday and Tuesday in mid to eastern Gulf states and again on Thursday and Friday with the passage of significant frontal boundaries.

Team BirdCast plans to include a more diverse array of forecasts and analyses for this season. You may have already seen some of the new graphics that we started to employ earlier in March. Now, we present another new feature: BirdCast World Edition.

Scattered among the West’s areas of persistent precipitation during were light to moderate flights featuring Turkey Vulture, Greater Yellowlegs, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Hooded Oriole, while pulses of similarly intense flights featuring Great Egret, Eastern Kingbird, Barn Swallow, Brown Thrasher, Prothonotary Warbler, and Louisiana Waterthrush occurred in advance of multiple frontal passages in the East.

The last several days have seen significant movements of birds in the US. Here are the highlights: On March 20th, we predicted a big influx of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers: https://twitter.com/DrBirdCast/status/843655066145996800 We can now report that they have indeed delivered! The proportion…

Species currently on the move in the United States include: Louisiana Waterthrush https://plot.ly/~birdcast/28.embed Great Egret https://plot.ly/~birdcast/16.embed Ruby-throated Hummingbird https://plot.ly/~birdcast/18.embed Osprey https://plot.ly/~birdcast/20.embed Red-eyed Vireo https://plot.ly/~birdcast/22.embed Hooded Warbler https://plot.ly/~birdcast/24.embed Prothonotary Warbler https://plot.ly/~birdcast/26.embed

The West will see a mix of marginal migration conditions spawning scattered light to moderate movements featuring Caspian Tern, Cassin’s Vireo, Barn Swallow, American Pipit, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, and Golden-crowned Sparrow, while light to locally heavy flights in the first half of the period and to end the period in the East will feature Sharp-shinned Hawk, Franklin’s Gull, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Great Crested Flycatcher, Pine Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Orchard Oriole, and Field Sparrow. The forecast for late in this period also suggests the first significant chance for fallouts and concentrations of migrants along the Gulf Coast.

The West experienced light to moderate movements early in the period, primarily in the southern reaches of the region, featuring Osprey, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Barn Swallow, Warbling Vireo, and Grace’s Warbler, while the central and southern portions of the East experienced light to moderate flights featuring Great Blue Heron, Osprey, American Golden-Plover, Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and Louisiana Waterthrush. The greatest extent of these movements occurred in the West on 17-18 March and in the East on 23-24 March.

This spring, we’ll be tracking migration from many angles. New interactive maps made with eBird data will give us a bird’s-eye view of migration in progress. We’ll also make use of line graphs showing the percent of eBird checklists reporting species through time. And follow us on Twitter!

A week of often favorable migration conditions punctuated with scattered precipitation will see light to moderate flights in many areas of the West that will feature American White Pelican, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Orange-crowned Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, and Hooded Oriole, while cooler temperatures in the East alternate with some pulses of marginally favorable migration conditions that feature light to moderate movements of Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Broad-winged Hawk, Northern Flicker, Purple Martin, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Prairie Warbler.

Light to moderate flights in the West, primarily in California and the Desert Southwest, featured Black-chinned Hummingbird, Western Kingbird, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Wilson’s Warbler, and Hooded Oriole, while a mostly quiet and cooler East saw locally moderate movements featuring Swainson’s Hawk, Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper, Hooded Warbler, Fox Sparrow, and Chipping Sparrow.

A pulse of widespread light to moderate movements in favorable migration conditions comes to the West on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with species on the move including Rufous Hummingbird, Western Kingbird, Orange-crowned Warbler, Lucy’s Warbler, Hooded Oriole, and Scott’s Oriole, while highly variable, and in some cases extreme wintry, weather halts and starts mostly light to moderate flights that will include Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Osprey, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Baird’s Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Field Sparrow.

Scattered light to moderate movements, primarily in California and the Desert Southwest, punctuated the early migration scene in the West and featured Swainson’s Hawk, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Bell’s Vireo, Sage Thrasher, and Hooded Oriole, while light to moderate flights in the southern states featured Blue-winged Teal, Osprey, Chuck-will’s-widow, Eastern Phoebe, Tree Swallow, Marsh Wren, and Summer Tanager.