Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle), Chris Wood

Continental Summary

Favorable conditions mid period bring light to moderate movements of American Wigeon, Ring-necked Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, Bald Eagle, Northern Flicker, and Yellow-rumped Warbler to the West, while moderate to very heavy weekend movements of Gadwall, Ruddy Duck, Horned Grebe, Sandhill Crane, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Eastern Meadowlark, and Fox Sparrow take flight in the East.

Want to know what birds were on the move last week? Check out our analysis.

Arrows show wind speed and direction (arrow points in the direction to which wind is blowing) 100 m above ground level. Areas with southerly winds are colored red; northerly winds colored blue. Accumulated precipitation (in 6 hour intervals) is green, outlined by white. Broadly speaking, areas of the map in blue will experience conditions that are favorable for migration, and areas where blue and green (and red and blue) intersect and overlap may experience migrant concentrations and fallouts as migrants interact with precipitation.

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Quick Links to Regions

Upper Midwest and Northeast	Gulf Coast and Southeast
Great Plains	West

Upper Midwest and Northeast

Favorable winds and cooler temperatures spreading across the region will bring moderate to very heavy flights to many areas for the weekend. This will include extensive nocturnal flights as well as morning flights, particularly in coastal areas. By Monday, southerly flow and high pressure building from the west slow the flood gates in most areas away from the immediate coast. As this air mass moves east, much of the region will see only light movements on Tuesday. Another disturbance in passage by this time will bring some changes to the intensity and extent of movements, but these will not be uniform: for the remainder of the week much of the region sees multiple transitions from locally favorable to unfavorable conditions, with similar transitions from moderate and heavy flights to minimal movement.

Ruddy Duck, Chris Wood

Species on the Move

Beginning Arrivals What is this?

Peaking Arrivals

Beginning Departures

Ending Departures

Gulf Coast and Southeast

Moderate to very heavy flights abound on the weekend, and continue in more easterly reaches of the region through the remainder of the period, particularly in the Carolinas through Florida. However, many areas west of the Mississippi River will experience substantial reductions in flights after the beginning of the work week, including a total migration shutdown in intense precipitation to end the period.

Savannah Sparrow, Ian Davies

Species on the Move

Beginning Arrivals What is this?

Peaking Arrivals

Beginning Departures

Ending Departures

Great Plains

A quick start to the weekend with moderate to heavy flights will be short lived, as southerly flow returns and quiets the system for Saturday and Sunday. By Monday night, the northern Plains get back in the action with moderate to heavy flights, some of which will continue locally through Tuesday and Wednesday nights. A substantial disturbance arrives to end the period, shutting down migrants and keeping birds in place.

Greater White-fronted Geese, Ian Davies

Species on the Move

Beginning Arrivals What is this?

Peaking Arrivals

Beginning Departures

Ending Departures

West

Precipitation and marginal conditions for flight will be spread across the region for the weekend, keeping movements light and local. By Monday, portions of California north and east through the Great Basin and northern Rockies will begin to experience more favorable conditions and light to moderate flights. The favorable conditions reach their greatest extents on Tuesday night, and much of the region away from the Desert Southwest and southern Rockies experiences light to moderate flights. As the period draws to a close, favorable conditions persist but become increasingly scattered; migration intensities will be light to locally moderate, but mirror the scattered patterns of good flight conditions in place and time.

Horned Grebe, Ian Davies

Species on the Move

Beginning Arrivals What is this?

Peaking Arrivals

Beginning Departures

Ending Departures

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Farnsworth and Van Doren