News

Although some portions of the Western US will see light and scattered migration by the middle or end of this week (e.g. the Desert Southwest), this week’s weather is dominated by the passage of Winter Storm Saturn across the Central…

Enter the lion! A potentially substantial winter storm is brewing, Saturn, and forecasts suggest it will leave its mark across a wide swath of the northern US. We focus on the NE US in this post, because of the continuing…

As hinted in last week’s post, there was some potential for scattered light migration across portions of the South-Central and Southeastern US. On 19 February 2013, as a substantial frontal boundary approached the Mississippi River valley, conditions for nocturnal bird…

In our last post, we highlighted an area of southerly flow that is forecast for Sunday – Tuesday, 17-19 February 2013, from portions of Texas to the western Appalachians. Below, we provide a short animated clips to show the forecast…

Two interesting patterns may spice up the mid-February birding scene next week. High pressure building into the Southeastern US should bring a period of warmer, southerly flow to many areas of the Gulf Coast by Monday. These conditions may facilitate…

If the groundhog were a birder, perhaps he would have predicted six more weeks of a winter like this . . . We know that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow. Many in the US probably rejoice at his early…

January in the temperate Northern Hemisphere is not typically a time that most consider as falling within “spring migration.” Rather, local and facultative movements of  wintering birds and irruptive movements tend to dominate birding discussions, observations, and field trips. However, here…

So far, the negative NAO index that team BirdCast pondered late last year has yet to materialize with the strength of the October-November period. However, recent weather in Europe and some forecasts for the short term suggest the potential for…

Well, the Fieldfare you so desired for the holidays certainly may have been beneath whatever vegetation is part of your holiday celebrations, but not if you live in North America. Although a number of Black-headed Gulls and Tufted Ducks are…

The National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center produces national snow analysis graphics. As of 28 December, as seen in the graphic below, approximately 64% of the United States is covered in snow! This is a dramatic change from the previous week, when…

As if this year did not already have enough displacement, entrainment, diversion, and irruption, along comes the Razorbill flight of 2012. Early December saw an unprecedented invasion of this species, which normally winters almost exclusively north of the mid-Atlantic states,…

Following last week’s post about the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the promise of European vagrants in North America, we thought it useful to note the current forecast from NWS Climate Prediction Center for the NAO index. The graphic below shows the…