Favorable conditions for migration come to the West from Sunday to Thursday bringing light to moderate flights of Eared Grebe, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Say's Phoebe, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Western Meadowlark, Golden-crowned Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, and Fox Sparrow, while a patchwork of favorable and unfavorable conditions for migration including the arrival of a tropical system bring similarly patchy moderate to heavy movements featuring Pied-billed Grebe, Franklin's Gull, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Gray Catbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Nashville Warbler, and Lincoln's Sparrow to the East.  Read more...

Widespread light to moderate movements dominated the first half of the forecast period in the West and featured Cackling Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, Dunlin, Varied Thrush, Hermit Thrush, American Pipit, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Palm Warbler, Golden-crowned Sparrow, while pulses of moderate to very heavy flights graced the East and featured Pied-billed Grebe, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Sprague's Pipit, Orange-crowned Warbler, Rusty Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, and Dark-eyed Junco.  Read more...

Team BirdCast would like to highlight one of the more unfortunate aspects of the study of nocturnal bird migration. Bird mortality at and near areas of strong artificial illumination has been well documented at numerous locations around the world with the spread of electricity and associated technologies since the mid to late 19th century. We call your attention to […]  Read more...

Favorable conditions for widespread light to moderate migration featuring Greater White-fronted Goose, Northern Shoveler, Eared Grebe, Red-tailed Hawk, Townsend's Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and White-crowned Sparrow come to the West during the first half of the forecast period, while the East experiences several bouts of favorable migration conditions with moderate to locally very heavy flights of Pied-billed Grebe, Turkey Vulture, Franklin's Gull, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Gray Catbird, Ovenbird, Tennessee Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and White-throated Sparrow.  Read more...

Moderate to heavy movements were the norm for the East this period, featuring Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Ruby-crownd Kinglet, Rusty Blackbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Harris's Sparrow, and Nelson's Sparrow, while the West experienced moderate movements primarily early in the forecast period that featured Cackling Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, Hooded Merganser, Dunlin, Herring Gull, Varied Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Golden-crowned Sparrow.  Read more...

Marginal and locally favorable migration conditions early in the period eventually yield to slightly more widespread favorable migration conditions, featuring Northern Shoveler, Eared Grebe, Belted Kingfisher, Orange-crowned Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, and White-crowned Sparrow in the West and Bald Eagle, Chimney Swift, Northern Flicker, Merlin, Blue-headed Vireo, White-eyed Vireo, Magnolia Warbler, Pine Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and Wilson's Warbler in the East.  Read more...

Moderate and even locally heavy flights featuring Sandhill Crane, Dunlin, Merlin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Pipit, White-crowned Sparrow, and Golden-crowned Sparrow punctuated this period in the West, while moderate to heavy flights of Broad-winged Hawk, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Magnolia Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Palm Warbler, Lincoln's Sparrow, and Purple Finch occurred in the East following the passage of a significant cold front.  Read more...

For those in the greater New York City metropolitan area, September 11th 2016 brought the return of the Tribute in Light Memorial. The powerful, side-by-side beams of light aimed skyward were, first and foremost, a somber tribute to lives lost on September 11th 2001; but, as in past years, the event also provide a rare opportunity to witness, […]  Read more...

Welcome to this installment of BirdCast Traffic Reports, posts describing northeastern US nocturnal bird migration traffic rates, as calculated from a completely automated pipeline of algorithms. The images you see in Traffic Reports present the migration traffic rate (MTR), direction of bird movement, and speed of bird movement. Nightly Loops 1 September 2016 A large […]  Read more...

Favorable conditions for moderate movements featuring Northern Shoveler, Eared Grebe, Belted Kingfisher, Warbling Vireo, Orange-crowned Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and Savannah Sparrow highlight the beginning and end of the work week in the West, while the East experiences two pulses of moderate to heavy flights over the weekend and in the middle of the work week featuring Blue-winged Teal, Northern Flicker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, White-eyed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, American Redstart, and Chestnut-sided Warbler.  Read more...

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.  Read more...

Marginal migration conditions begin the period, give way to more widespread flights to end the week in the West, and feature Northern Shoveler, Killdeer, Belted Kingfisher, Yellow Warbler, MacGillivray's Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, and Western Tanager, while favorable conditions kicking off the period in the East in many areas of the East, featuring Blue-winged Teal, Bald Eagle, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Merlin, Least Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, and Magnolia Warbler, give way to increasingly unfavorable conditions in part due to a decaying Hermine.  Read more...

A busy week of migration across the nation featured light to moderate movements in the West and moderate to heavy flights in the East, with Northern Pintail, Caspian Tern, Swanson's Thrush, Tennessee Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, and Lincoln's Sparrow on the move.  Read more...

Welcome to this installment of BirdCast Traffic Reports, posts describing northeastern US nocturnal bird migration traffic rates, as calculated from a completely automated pipeline of algorithms. The images you see in Traffic Reports present the migration traffic rate (MTR), direction of bird movement, and speed of bird movement. See our first report or scientific paper […]  Read more...

Each night, from local sunset to local sunrise in the Eastern time zone, a BirdCast server downloads radar data from 16 stations in the northeastern US. These data are composed of every scan of the atmosphere made by these radars during this time period, with a particular focus in our case on radar reflectivity products representing the magnitude of targets (whether meteorological, like rain and hail, or biological, like birds, bats, and insects) at a given radar. A pipeline of algorithms extracts information from these radar data about birds, and the resulting bird-specific summary imagery is published daily in early afternoon eastern time (give or take).  Read more...

Locally favorable migration conditions increase in extent over the course of the work week in the East and feature Common Nighthawk, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Prothonotary Warbler, and Northern Waterthrush, while conditions in the west remain largely marginal for migration, with locally favorable patches featuring movements of Greater Yellowlegs, Western Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, MacGillivray's Warbler, and Western Tanager.  Read more...

As spring migration winds down, light flights featuring late shorebirds, Eastern Kingbird, Cedar Waxwing, and Grasshopper Sparrow continue in the West early and late in the period primarily in montane areas, while the last vestiges of moderate to locally heavy flights featuring late shorebirds, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Cedar Waxwing, Sedge Wren, and Henslow's Sparrow grace the East during the second half of the forecast period.  Read more...

As the peak of migration in most areas recedes with another spring season passing, portions of the West experience light to moderate flights featuring White-throated Swift, Western Wood-Pewee, Warbling Vireo, Swanson's Thrush, Cedar Waxwing, and Gray Catbird primarily mid and late period and patchily distributed moderate to heavy flights featuring Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Cedar Waxwing, Orchard Oriole, and Bobolink occur in the East against a backdrop of a dynamic weather scene.  Read more...

A period of generally favorable migration conditions featuring light to moderate flights of Common Nighthawk, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Willow Flycatcher, Common Yellowthroat, Grasshopper Sparrow, and Western Tanager is in store for much of the West, particularly in the Rockies, while an unfavorable cool and wet start to the East gives way to later week moderate to heavy flights of White-rumped Sandpiper, Dunlin, Red-necked Phalarope, Black Tern, Black-billed Cuckoo, Red-eyed Vireo, Mourning Warbler, and Scarlet Tanager.  Read more...

Light to moderate flights graced many areas from California east through the Rockies and featured Black Tern, Willow Flycatcher, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Gray Catbird, and Bobolink, while pulses of moderate and heavy flights featuring White-rumped Sandpiper, Common Nighthawk, Black-billed Cuckoo, Alder Flycatcher, Bay-breasted Warbler, and Canada Warbler were scattered across the East.  Read more...