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Team BirdCast is excited to debut daily reports of migration traffic rates in the northeast United States. Each night, from local sunset to local sunrise in the Eastern time zone, a BirdCast server downloads radar data from 16 stations in the northeastern US….

NOTE: Check out our new Traffic Reports, above! Continental Summary The West will see light to moderate flights, particularly in more northern reaches, featuring Eared Grebe, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Say’s Phoebe, Townsend’s Warbler, Brewer’s Blackbird, and Lincoln’s Sparrow, while moderate to very…

Moderate and heavy flights were the norm this week for many areas of the country, featuring Greater White-fronted Goose, Ring-necked Duck, Say’s Phoebe, Varied Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Fox Sparrow, and Golden-crowned Sparrow in the West and American Bittern, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Nashville Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and White-crowned Sparrow in the East.

A patchwork of favorable conditions across northern reaches of the West, primarily, brings light to moderate flights featuring Pectoral Sandpiper, Orange-crowned Warbler, a suite of vagrant eastern warblers, Brewer’s Blackbird, and Savannah Sparrow, while a weekend cold front kicks off moderate to very heavy flights followed later in the period by another similarly intense pulse, both featuring Turkey Vulture, Broad-winged Hawk, Eastern Phoebe, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue Jay, Swainson’s Thrush, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, and Clay-colored Sparrow.

A busy week of migration featured light to moderate flights across much of the West, featuring Cackling Goose, Dunlin, Black Tern, Vaux’s Swift, Tree Swallow, Black-headed Grosbeak and Fox Sparrow, and heavy flights to begin and end the period in the East, featuring some huge movements of American Redstart among other species such as Broad-winged Hawk, Chimney Swift, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Pipit, Palm Warbler, Northern Parula and White-crowned Sparrow.

BirdCast predicted a large movement of birds in the greater New York City area on 11-12 September: first, nearly a week has passed of summer-like conditions in the greater New York City metropolitan area, preventing most exodus of migrants that is typical under more favorable conditions; second, a moderate to heavy flight of birds occurred in the periphery of upstate New York and parts of New England last night, indicating a number of birds in the immediate vicinities of the New York City metropolitan area (the image above shows some of these movements, and you can visit our analysis to read more about these flights); and finally, and most important, conditions were favorable for migration this evening, with northerly winds, clear skies, and substantially cooler temperatures than the past week.

Heavy migration is currently blanketing much of the eastern half of the United States, especially in the midwest, southern Plains, and eastern seaboard. Many birds are currently visible in the Tribute in Light memorial in New York City.

A week featuring Turkey Vulture, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Common Yellowthroat, Green-tailed Towhee, and Vesper Sparrow in light to moderate movements to begin and end the period are in store for the West, while moderate to heavy flights featuring Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Acadian Flycatcher, Blue-headed Vireo, Philadelphia Vireo, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Tennessee Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, American Redstart, Summer Tanager, and Baltimore Oriole begin and end the period in the East.

For those in the greater New York City metropolitan area, the coming night brings the return of the Tribute in Light Memorial. The powerful, side-by-side beams of light aimed skyward are first and foremost a somber tribute to the lives lost…

A big week for migration saw Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Green-tailed Towhee, White-crowned Sparrow, and Golden-crowned Sparrow migrate in light to moderate flights across the West and Blue-winged Teal, Bald Eagle, Swainson’s Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Nashville Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Palm Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, and Baltimore Oriole moving in moderate to heavy flights in the East.

At BirdCast, we’ve been working towards real-time analyses of bird migration. We’re excited to bring to the web site next-day analyses of bird migration in the northeast United States, made possible by the National Weather Service’s network of Doppler weather radars and some…

More favorable conditions with persist across the West this week, with light to moderate flights featuring Killdeer, Warbling Vireo, Swainson’s Thrush, MacGillivray’s Warbler, and Western Tanager, while the East experiences increasingly favorable conditions building to spawn moderate to heavy flights featuring Great Egret, Swainson’s Hawk, Red-eyed Vireo, Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and Chestnut-sided Warbler, by week’s end.