Northern Parula. Mike Bailey/Macaulay Library. eBird S31455590

Continental Summary

Moderate to heavy flights were peppered across the nation and featured Sharp-shinned Hawk, Veery, Swainson’s Thrush, Northern Parula, Orange-crowned Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Fox Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, and Dark-eyed Junco during this past forecast period, with more widespread and regional movements generally limited by a few extreme weather events in the Desert Southwest and the Atlantic Seaboard.

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Upper Midwest and Northeast	Gulf Coast and Southeast
Great Plains	West

Upper Midwest and Northeast

Widespread moderate flights were the norm across much of the region to begin the weekend, gradually diminishing in intensity and extent through the beginning of the work week. Hermine’s arrival kept a generally easterly flow, facilitating coastal flights particularly in the mid Atlantic. During the work week, increasing temperatures and generally calmer flow away from the immediate New York and New England ocean coasts allowed light to moderate movements to continue. However, these were generally more local than regional. By Thursday night, an approaching frontal boundary slowly moving east through the eastern Great Lakes and Ohio River valley spawned moderate to heavy flights to its west while locations farther east were generally significantly less active.

Top Movers

[expand title=”Increasing” tag=”h3″]
[table sort=”,desc” tablesorter=”true”]
Species,Increase from Last Week[attr style=”color:green”],% of Checklists Reporting

Northern Parula,62%,5.4
Swainson’s Thrush,70%,5.5
Magnolia Warbler,32%,11.9
Palm Warbler,149%,2.4
Black-throated Green Warbler,34%,7.3
Bay-breasted Warbler,38%,3.4
Sharp-shinned Hawk,56%,3.3
Blackpoll Warbler,51%,3.7
Black-throated Blue Warbler,34%,3.8
Red-breasted Nuthatch,25%,12.1
Chestnut-sided Warbler,30%,8.3
Yellow-throated Vireo,34%,4.2
Tennessee Warbler,30%,5.8
Philadelphia Vireo,52%,2.1
Merlin,34%,4
Scarlet Tanager,31%,4.8
Cape May Warbler,31%,2.9
American Redstart,15%,18.5
Wilson’s Warbler,40%,3
White-eyed Vireo,30%,4.6
Gray-cheeked Thrush,148%,0.6
Nashville Warbler,30%,5
Common Yellowthroat,13%,19.3

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[expand title=”Decreasing” tag=”h3″]
[table sort=”,asc” tablesorter=”true”]
Species,Decrease from Last Week[attr style=”color:red”],% of Checklists Reporting

Buff-breasted Sandpiper,-74%,0.6
Baltimore Oriole,-39%,4.7
Eastern Kingbird,-52%,3.1
Horned Lark,-50%,0.9
Purple Martin,-47%,1.3
Barn Swallow,-27%,12.6
Stilt Sandpiper,-37%,1.6
Baird’s Sandpiper,-37%,1.5
Marbled Godwit,-59%,0.3
Tree Swallow,-20%,10.9
Short-billed Dowitcher,-34%,2.2
Semipalmated Sandpiper,-20%,7.5
Red Knot,-41%,0.6
Orchard Oriole,-97%,0
Little Blue Heron,-34%,1.2
Least Sandpiper,-17%,10.7
Spotted Sandpiper,-22%,6
Least Tern,-53%,0.5
Bank Swallow,-32%,1.5
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron,-37%,0.7
Piping Plover,-42%,0.4
Caspian Tern,-21%,4.3
Cliff Swallow,-39%,0.8
Great Crested Flycatcher,-17%,5.4
Osprey,-12%,13

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Veery. Jeff O’Connell/Macaulay Library. eBird S31486714

Gulf Coast and Southeast

Moderate to locally heavy flights followed the passage of Hermine across the region, with great extents and intensities on Friday night and diminishing returns thereafter. Note, Hermine brought a number of typically cyclone-entrained or driven species seabirds inland in Florida and elsewhere in the region (see this and this). The decrease in migration activity continued through the work week to the end of the period, as less favorable southerly flow and warmer and wetter air built into the region.

Top Movers

[expand title=”Increasing” tag=”h3″]
[table sort=”,desc” tablesorter=”true”]
Species,Increase from Last Week[attr style=”color:green”],% of Checklists Reporting

Veery,447%,2.2
Red-eyed Vireo,53%,19.3
Magnolia Warbler,148%,2.9
Ovenbird,113%,5.6
Common Yellowthroat,64%,8
Swainson’s Thrush,1220%,1
Brown Thrasher,49%,13.7
Eastern Wood-Pewee,37%,14.6
Black-and-white Warbler,41%,10.6
Golden-winged Warbler,325%,0.8
American Redstart,33%,11.9
Northern Parula,33%,14.2
Kentucky Warbler,76%,2.1
Blackburnian Warbler,58%,2.8
Yellow-throated Vireo,40%,5.9
Acadian Flycatcher,55%,4.2
Tennessee Warbler,96%,1.2
Summer Tanager,31%,10.9
Cape May Warbler,150%,0.5
Worm-eating Warbler,45%,4.2
Chestnut-sided Warbler,46%,4.5
Pine Warbler,31%,10.4

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[expand title=”Decreasing” tag=”h3″]
[table sort=”,asc” tablesorter=”true”]
Species,Decrease from Last Week[attr style=”color:red”],% of Checklists Reporting

Orchard Oriole,-58%,1.1
Pectoral Sandpiper,-52%,3.1
Mississippi Kite,-45%,2
Black Tern,-40%,2.3
Black-chinned Hummingbird,-45%,1.1
Wilson’s Snipe,-77%,0.2
Barn Swallow,-29%,16.3
Eastern Kingbird,-30%,6.6
Western Kingbird,-58%,0.4
Whooping Crane,-97%,0
Least Tern,-31%,2.3
Upland Sandpiper,-49%,0.6
Fulvous Whistling-Duck,-60%,0.2
Caspian Tern,-35%,2.2
Red Phalarope,-84%,0
Common Tern,-42%,1.3
Sandwich Tern,-30%,3.5
Solitary Sandpiper,-30%,2.6
Spotted Sandpiper,-17%,6.7

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Mourning Warbler. Nick Saunders/Macaulay Library. eBird S31431868

Great Plains

Away from light to locally moderate flights in the southern Plains, the weekend began quietly. But by Saturday and Sunday nights moderate to locally heavy movements took flight in the northern and central Plains with the passage of low pressure and strong storms. This pattern continued for several days though the middle of the work week, as a slow moving frontal boundary developed and pushed east, spawning moderate to locally heavy flights in its wake.

Top Movers

[expand title=”Increasing” tag=”h3″]
[table sort=”,desc” tablesorter=”true”]
Species,Increase from Last Week[attr style=”color:green”],% of Checklists Reporting

Orange-crowned Warbler,182%,5.8
Swainson’s Thrush,181%,7
Yellow-rumped Warbler,207%,4.2
Red Crossbill,311%,4.2
Dark-eyed Junco,1318%,2
Brown Creeper,-1603%,1.4
Nashville Warbler,65%,7.3
Merlin,128%,2.7
Lincoln’s Sparrow,145%,2.2
Wilson’s Warbler,45%,12.8
Ruby-crowned Kinglet,201%,1.8
Hairy Woodpecker,35%,13.8
Red-breasted Nuthatch,40%,7.8
Marsh Wren,149%,1.9
Mourning Warbler,225%,2.5
Osprey,39%,6.5
Black-and-white Warbler,38%,7.5
Magnolia Warbler,43%,4
Gray Catbird,23%,17.8
American Redstart,28%,10.8
Northern Flicker,17%,29.2

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[expand title=”Decreasing” tag=”h3″]
[table sort=”,asc” tablesorter=”true”]
Species,Decrease from Last Week[attr style=”color:red”],% of Checklists Reporting

Lark Sparrow,-58%,2.2
Bell’s Vireo,-44%,3.1
Dickcissel,-60%,1.4
Eastern Kingbird,-34%,11.7
Lark Bunting,-60%,0.7
Kentucky Warbler,-86%,0.1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo,-30%,6.3
Field Sparrow,-41%,2.3
Blue Grosbeak,-48%,1.4
Buff-breasted Sandpiper,-74%,0.2
Baltimore Oriole,-22%,13.4
Willow Flycatcher,-60%,0.4
Purple Martin,-39%,1.4
Barn Swallow,-16%,27.2
Northern Mockingbird,-28%,4.8
Orchard Oriole,-51%,1
Mourning Dove,-14%,52.8
Eastern Bluebird,-17%,13.6
Grasshopper Sparrow,-87%,0.1
Western Meadowlark,-28%,4.5
Brown-headed Cowbird,-43%,1.9
Eastern Meadowlark,-50%,0.9

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Golden-crowned Sparrow. Cameron Eckert/Macaulay Library. eBird S31431577

West

Light to moderate flights were scattered across the region for the weekend, especially on the western perimeter from the Pacific Northwest south and east through the Desert Southwest. By Monday night these movements shifted farther east, with similarly intense flights apparent in the northern Rockies and California through the Desert Southwest. The remainder of the period saw widely scattered light to moderate flights intensify and become widespread, with the greatest intensities and extents on Thursday night. Note, especially the flights in the Desert Southwest that were moderate and locally heavy. Also, note the passage of Newton on Tuesday night, which brought intense rain and some amazing pelagic vagrants to Arizona (we will follow up with a separate post on this subject).

Top Movers

[expand title=”Increasing” tag=”h3″]
[table sort=”,desc” tablesorter=”true”]
Species,Increase from Last Week[attr style=”color:green”],% of Checklists Reporting

Pacific-slope Flycatcher,61%,7.4
Golden-crowned Sparrow,643%,1.4
Lincoln’s Sparrow,50%,4.6
Vaux’s Swift,45%,4.2
Orange-crowned Warbler,35%,15.2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet,87%,2.4
White-crowned Sparrow,23%,10.6
Fox Sparrow,129%,1.3
Black-throated Gray Warbler,30%,6
Townsend’s Warbler,47%,5
Warbling Vireo,25%,7.5
Red-necked Grebe,70%,1.2
Hermit Thrush,82%,1.3
Red-necked Phalarope,21%,4.1
Song Sparrow,10%,26.8
Hutton’s Vireo,22%,3.8
Western Tanager,12%,10.9

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[expand title=”Decreasing” tag=”h3″]
[table sort=”,asc” tablesorter=”true”]
Species,Decrease from Last Week[attr style=”color:red”],% of Checklists Reporting

Eastern Kingbird,-72%,0.5
Baird’s Sandpiper,-56%,2.5
Tricolored Heron,-87%,0.1
Stilt Sandpiper,-46%,0.6
Lesser Yellowlegs,-34%,3.8
Broad-tailed Hummingbird,-27%,3.5
Black-chinned Hummingbird,-23%,5.1
Calliope Hummingbird,-41%,0.7
Rufous Hummingbird,-24%,4
Nashville Warbler,-23%,2.1
Short-billed Dowitcher,-36%,1.2
Cassin’s Vireo,-28%,1.3
Baltimore Oriole,-83%,0
Semipalmated Plover,-25%,4.1
Mountain Chickadee,-18%,5.8
Western Sandpiper,-23%,8.6
Least Sandpiper,-21%,10.3
Sanderling,-24%,2
Hooded Oriole,-30%,1.5
Sandhill Crane,-36%,0.8
Black-headed Grosbeak,-22%,4.1
Pine Siskin,-19%,4

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