EDIT (11:15 PM): Another video — those are all birds in the lights!
EDIT (11:00 PM): We believe we can see this congregation on radar!
EDIT (10:40 PM): Conservatively 5000 birds in the beam at a given time. Andrew reports a Connecticut Warbler.
EDIT (10:20 PM): The lights have been shut off twice so far to allow the birds entrained in the beam to continue migrating.
Heavy migration is currently blanketing much of the eastern half of the United States, especially in the midwest, southern Plains, and eastern seaboard.
As we predicted earlier today, the New York City area is seeing its biggest migratory movement of the fall so far:
Many birds are currently visible in the Tribute in Light memorial in New York City. Here is a video from Andrew Farnsworth taken at about 10 PM.
The birds visible in the light are mostly small passerines, dominated by warblers such as American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, and Northern Parula. The birds go higher up in the beam than are visible through binoculars.
We have also deployed an experimental automated unit to detect and identify flight calls — lots of Ovenbirds and American Redstarts.
