American White Pelican. Thomas Jones/Macaulay Library. eBird S35203732.

Continental Summary

A week of often favorable migration conditions punctuated with scattered precipitation will see light to moderate flights in many areas of the West that will feature American White Pelican, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Orange-crowned Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, and Hooded Oriole, while cooler temperatures in the East alternate with some pulses of marginally favorable migration conditions that feature light to moderate movements of Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Broad-winged Hawk, Northern Flicker, Purple Martin, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Prairie Warbler.

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 red will experience conditions that are favorable for migration, and areas where red and green (and red and blue) intersect and overlap may experience migrant concentrations and fallouts as migrants interact with precipitation.

We use data collected by eBird users help make more accurate forecasts. If you enjoy the predictions contained in these posts, please consider submitting your own bird sightings to eBird to even further improve the content. Every observation counts, whether it be a single bird at a feeder in your backyard, or an entire day spent in a national park. To get started with eBird, head on over to the site!

Please note that photographs and other digital media showing birds come from the Macaulay Library, which receives credit along with the photographer/observer in the media caption as part of a new initiative that allows public contribution, access and use of natural history media.

Finally, and new for Spring 2017, our friend Kyle Horton of the Radar Aeroecology Lab at Oklahoma University created a new set of images depicting spring bird movements in the Gulf of Mexico region as part of an analysis that he is leading as part of our ongoing collaboration. This feature appears in the Gulf Coast and Southeast region forecast.

Need a review of our definitions for regions, species on the move, and migration amounts? Please visit this link.

Quick Links to Regions

Upper Midwest and Northeast	Gulf Coast and Southeast
Great Plains	West

Upper Midwest and Northeast

Low pressure moving through the region brings another wintry blast early in the weekend, but signs of movement return by Sunday night. Southerly flow in the Midwest will bring light to moderate flights, with some areas reaching locally heavy intensities. This pulse will be short-lived, as a cool air mass follows with northerly flow and shuts down migrants in all but the easternmost reaches of the region. And it is not until Wednesday and Thursday that warmer air returns, again to the Midwest where moderate to locally heavy flights will occur. These conditions spread east for Thursday night, when much of the region east of New England will see favorable conditions for moderate flights. Note that some of these flights may overlap with precipitation, making for local concentrations and fallouts of waterbirds, in particular, on inland lakes and early season landbird migrants in appropriate habitat.

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted). Tony Gazso/Macaulay Library. eBird S35004491.

Species on the Move

Beginning Arrivals What is this?

Peaking Arrivals

Beginning Departures

Ending Departures

Gulf Coast and Southeast

Moderate to locally heavy flights kick off the weekend in many areas of the region as southerly flow spawns exodus from the Gulf states. The remainder of the weekend will see these flights restricted primarily to areas west of the Mississippi as high pressure off the Atlantic Coast holds sway east of the Appalachians with easterly and northerly winds. A similar pattern returns for the work week, but a change is coming. By Thursday, southerly flow becomes more widespread across the region, including to areas of northern Central America, and moderate to heavy flights will follow suite. These flights will include one of the first evident trans-Gulf flights of the spring during the day on Friday. And with a forecast for a frontal boundary to reach the Texas coast on Friday, birders should be watchful for fallout and concentration conditions.

Prairie Warbler. Randy Harrod/Macaulay Library. eBird S35155007.

Beginning Arrivals What is this?

Peaking Arrivals

Beginning Departures

Ending Departures

Weekly mean spring nocturnal migration activity and direction of movement in the Gulf of Mexico region for the week of 16-22 March, 1995 to 2015. Circular buffers around radar stations represent migration activity scaled to radar reflectivity (a measure of biological activity), with weekly activity represented by size scaled to the activity at KCRP Corpus Christi and seasonal activity represented by colors scaled to the most intense movements of the spring period (L: light, M: moderate, H:heavy); arrows represent mean track direction (a measure of the direction birds are traveling) derived from radial velocity.

Great Plains

A blast of southerly wind on Saturday night will see moderate to locally heavy flights across the region. However, the extent of these flights diminishes significantly for Sunday and the beginning of the work week, as northerly flow and cooler conditions return to shut down most movements. Some areas of the southern Plains will see continued light to moderate flights. Wednesday and Thursday nights see the southerly flow return, with moderate to heavy flights aloft in these favorable conditions. Note that some of these flights will interact with precipitation associated with an approaching low pressure center. Birders should watch for concentrations of migrants, particularly on Friday, in places where birds and precipitation interact.

Double-crested Cormorant. Patrick J. Blake/Macaulay Library. eBird S35205086.

Species on the Move

Beginning Arrivals What is this?

Peaking Arrivals

Beginning Departures

Ending Departures

West

Widespread light to moderate flights will come to the region for the first half of the weekend. Some of these flights may be more intense, particularly in the southern and eastern Rockies as southerly winds facilitate an exodus of winter and an arrival of early spring migrants. Movements become more local by Sunday night, but return to greater extents by Monday to Wednesday as favorable migration conditions continue to build in many areas. Scattered precipitation will become more widely spread through the region, localizing flights significantly by Wednesday and Thursday. Most movements late in the work week will be confined to the intermountain west, from Arizona north into the Great Basin and northern Rockies.

Orange-crowned Warbler. Patricia Clark/Macaulay Library. eBird S35138570.

Species on the Move

Beginning Arrivals What is this?

Peaking Arrivals

Beginning Departures

Ending Departures

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