News

Every year for the last 15 years, Ron Pittaway of Ontario Field Ornithologists publishes a forecast for the movements of winter finches in the upcoming winter. Team BirdCast loves this. This forecast focuses specifically on the movements of Ontario populations of these species, but many across…

In March 2012 much of the eastern US experience anomalously warm temperatures in March that correlated with record early arrivals of migrants. This weekend, across some of the central US and much of the western US, anomalously warm temperatures are forecast. The image…

Team BirdCast spent some effort last year to discuss vagrancy in Purple Gallinules in late fall and winter (see this post). As a very short addendum to that story, we have been looking at the track record for vagrant gallinules so…

Team BirdCast wrote in November 2014 about Varied Thrush movements in the western US. Since November, the actual movements (or at least visible movements like morning flights) of these thrushes may have dwindled, but the birds – in terms of where…

Last year’s Great Lakes’ ice cover generated many waterbird headlines among birders (and beyond). Some of the feature players in those movements were scoters and grebes, in particular White-winged Scoter and Red-necked Grebe. Team BirdCast spent some time discussing the movements of…

Snowy Owls staged a major invasion last year, one that was covered far and wide by birders and the news media alike. Check out this great album from Ryan Schain of Snowy Owl candids! This irruption was most likely related to an abundance…

As Christmas Bird Count (CBC) season arrives, more birders will be on the move than usual. Among the many possibilities for excitement are a few stories that we have been and are watching at BirdCast. Snowy Owl staged a major…

This fall has seen some quite large movements of Varied Thrushes in California and across the West – birders around the region have been reporting larger (and larger than normal) flights of birds for a number of weeks. Some of these…

Continental Summary A few moderate movements in the East highlighted an otherwise quiet part for migration across the nation, as large scale and diverse movements for this season are long gone. Species on the move this week included Snow Goose, Common…

Storm! There has been much discussion of the remains of Super Typhoon Nuri as it rips up the Pacific. The remnants of the storm gathered some serious strength and bombed to an anomalously low central pressure in the low 920s….

Continental Summary Late season movements in the West will be sparse, but more widespread light to moderate movements occur in the East during an extended period of favorable conditions. Species on the move this week will include Tundra Swan, Snow Goose, Brant, Cackling Goose, Canvasback,…

Continental Summary Primarily light movements in the West highlighted the late date of the migration season, as two pulses of widespread moderate movements bookended the period in the East. Species on the move this week included numerous waterfowl, Herring Gull,…