News

This week featured moderate to heavy flights across the southern US, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and the central US, from Texas to the Canadian border, and these flights included Western Sandpiper, Wilson’s Phalarope, Bonaparte’s Gull, House Wren, Gray Catbird, Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Lazuli Bunting, Western Tanager, and Summer Tanager.

Migrants were active in the region this week in the West, with several pulses of light to moderate movements featuring Semipalmated Plover, Western Sandpiper, Varied Thrush, Nashville Warbler, Blue Grosbeak, and Western Tanager, while many areas of the East experienced moderate and locally heavy movements at times, particularly on Sunday and Monday nights in advance of a cold front, that featured American Bittern, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, House Wren, Yellow Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Baltimore Oriole.

The passage of an unusually intense late May cold front will result in strong northwest winds along the Pacific Coast through the weekend and could bring pelagic goodies to shore.

Trans-Gulf migrants are encountering rain as they approach the US coastline. Birders in Texas and in other areas along the Gulf of Mexico cost should make plans to visit the coast … now.

Could recent August observations of Red-breasted Nuthatch in coastal New York represent the beginning of another strong southbound flight of the species this autumn and winter? Read on to consider patterns, correlations, and ways you can help us understand these movements by submitting your observations!

Despite scattered medium to high intensity movements in the past 7-10 days in the northeastern US, punctuating some otherwise abysmally and anomalously cool conditions, tonight will see a significant change. Medium to high intensity movements are predicted across a wide swath of the region, including in areas where fallouts and concentrations may occur as a result of birds interacting with rain.

BirdCast tracks with great interest the movements of hurricanes and the pelagic species that they often entrain and displace on shore and at times far inland. The team is also interested in bird migration around hurricanes, and with the arrival and passage of Hurricane Dorian off the coast of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, we can see how some birds handle the circulation of an intense cyclonic storm.

The BirdCast model is predicting high intensity migration for the night of 14 September 2020. We estimate that 405 million birds will take flight tonight across the lower 48, including 50 million birds in the northeast alone. This will likely represent one of the largest migration nights of the year in this region.

More than 200 million migrants will be aloft this evening over the US. These massive movements present some unique opportunities to experience bird migration and act to protect birds by turning off lights at night!

We estimate that more than half a billion birds will take flight tonight from the contiguous US, spanning the central portion of the country from Canada to Mexico.

The BirdCast forecast model is predicting high intensity migration this evening, and we estimate this migration will comprise more than 400 million birds. The highest intensity movements will occur in Texas and portions of the southern Appalachians and lower Mississippi River valley.

The BirdCast model is predicting high intensity migration this evening, with more than half a billion birds on the move! And there will be additional, similarly large flights, in the coming nights! This will likely represent one of the largest series of migration nights of the year in the contiguous US.