Moderate movements, particularly in the latter half of the period from California and the Desert Southwest, included Spotted Sandpiper, Wilson's Phalarope, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, Swainson's Thrush, Yellow-breasted Chat, Western Tanager, and Black-headed Grosbeak in the West, while the migration machine kicked into a higher gear with moderate to heavy flights in the East that included Least Flycatcher, Philadelphia Vireo, Veery, Mourning Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Dickcissel, Orchard Oriole, and Baltimore Oriole.  Read more...

An odd week in the East will feature good conditions for trans-Gulf flights (and fallouts), some early period moderate to locally heavy flights in the Plains, and a more quiet than usual Northeast with numerous species on the move including Green Heron, Black-bellied Plover, Lesser Yellowlegs, Caspian Tern, Blue-headed Vireo, Prairie Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, and Summer Tanager, while the West sees a quiet heart of the period bookended by light to moderate flights that will included Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitchers, Black Tern, Plumbeous Vireo, Wilson's Warbler, Hermit Warbler, and Lark Bunting.  Read more...

This week featured moderate to heavy flights across the southern US, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and the central US, from Texas to the Canadian border, and these flights included Western Sandpiper, Wilson's Phalarope, Bonaparte's Gull, House Wren, Gray Catbird, Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Lincoln's Sparrow, Lazuli Bunting, Western Tanager, and Summer Tanager.  Read more...

From Monday to Thursday many areas of the West see light to moderate migration featuring Dunlin, Willet, Least Sandpiper, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Green-tailed Towhee, while several disturbances passing through the East spawn fallouts along the Gulf Coast and moderate to heavy movements of numerous shorebirds, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black-and-white Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Palm Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and White-throated Sparrow in advance of frontal passages.  Read more...

Migrants were active in the region this week in the West, with several pulses of light to moderate movements featuring Semipalmated Plover, Western Sandpiper, Varied Thrush, Nashville Warbler, Blue Grosbeak, and Western Tanager, while many areas of the East experienced moderate and locally heavy movements at times, particularly on Sunday and Monday nights in advance of a cold front, that featured American Bittern, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, House Wren, Yellow Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Baltimore Oriole.  Read more...

Pulses of light to moderate movements will follow the favorable conditions across the West, particularly early in the week, and will feature Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Bonaparte's Gull, Caspian Tern, Vaux's Swift, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, and Yellow-headed Blackbird, while the East sees moderate to heavy flights that track those favorable conditions early to mid week and that feature a large number of arrivals including Green Heron, Willet, Wilson's Snipe, Red-eyed Vireo, Cliff Swallow, Yellow-throated Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, and Swamp Sparrow among many others.  Read more...

An active beginning and end to the forecast period in the West featured light to moderate movements primarily in the southern portion of the region and included Western Sandpiper, Franklin's Gull, Cassin's Vireo, Black-throated Gray Warbler, and Nashville Warbler, while increasingly widespread moderate movements punctuated the period in the East and included Franklin's Gull, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Common Yellowthroat, Chipping Sparrow, and Summer Tanager.  Read more...

Light to moderate movements featuring Green Heron, Osprey, Rufous Hummingbird, White-throated Swift, and Common Yellowthroat will be the norm from Friday through the middle of the coming work week in the West, as moderate to heavy flights come to many parts of the East and feature Ruddy Duck, Whimbrel, Northern Flicker, Tree Swallow, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Indigo Bunting.  Read more...

Light to moderate movements, primarily in California and the Desert Southwest, in the first half of the week included Swainson's Hawk, Franklin's Gull, Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Nashville Warbler, Common Grackle for the West, while scattered pulses of light to moderate movements reached a peak by the end of the week in the East and included Great Crested Flycatcher, Tree Swallow, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Chipping Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, and Orchard Oriole.  Read more...

Friday and Monday nights will be the most extensive of the light to moderate movements that occur in the West this week featuring Cassin's Vireo, Tree Swallow, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Gray Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, while several pulses of more extensive light to moderate movements grace the East from Saturday through Wednesday featuring Double-crested Cormorant, Osprey, Pectoral Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper, Eastern Phoebe, Yellow-throated Vireo, Hooded Warbler, and Fox Sparrow.  Read more...

While the West saw early and late forecast period light to moderate movements along the Pacific Coast and in the Desert Southwest including Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Orange-crowned Warbler, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Bullock’s Oriole, scattered light to moderate movements peaking on Tuesday and Wednesday nights including Greater White-fronted Goose, Blue-winged Teal, Barn Swallow, Brown Thrasher, Lapland Longspur, Vesper Sparrow, and Chipping Sparrow increased in the East.  Read more...

Most of the movement in the West this period occur this weekend and early in the week, with light to moderate movements that will see increasing arrivals of Osprey, Rufous Hummingbird, Bell's Vireo, and Hooded Oriole, while the East will experience the greatest intensity and extent of moderate movements from Monday through Thursday with increasing arrivals of Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, American Golden-Plover, Belted Kingfisher, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Song Sparrow.   Read more...

Light to moderate migration, primarily in California and the Desert Southwest early in the period, brought increasing numbers of Bell's Vireo, Lucy's Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and Bullock's Oriole to the West, while slightly more extensive light to moderate movements on Sunday and Monday nights, including Blue-winged Teal, Eastern Phoebe, Blue-headed Vireo, Tree Swallow, and Pine Warbler among other migrants, highlighted the period in the East.  Read more...

Continental Summary Weekend birders can look forward to widespread light to moderate movements across the West, while Monday through Wednesday brings similarly widespread light to moderate flights in the East. Species on the move this week will include Blue-winged Teal, Turkey Vulture, Eastern Phoebe, Western Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Tree Swallow, Lucy’s Warbler, and Hooded Warbler. Arrows show […]  Read more...

Continental Summary In light to moderate migration Mountain Bluebird, Hooded Oriole, Barn Swallow, and Lucy’s Warbler were on the move last weekend in the West, while Wood Duck, Killdeer, American Woodcock, and Northern Parula composed mid to late week flights in the East. West Light to moderate movements were the norm across the Desert Southwest and California to […]  Read more...

American Robin is a sure sign of spring for many, whether you wait patiently for the first migrants to scamper across a lawn that is (finally) not icy or white (can you tell that parts of the eastern US are very ready for spring?) or eagerly anticipate the rambling and melodic caroling of a robin in your back yard. […]  Read more...

BirdCast Regions For migration forecasts and analyses, we use the following divisions to represent the continental US. We use these regions because their component states have many migration patterns in common and because their component states’ proximity make for logical groupings. Without doubt, finer scale delineation based on analyses of the details of migration patterns […]  Read more...

Although winter’s clutches continue to grip some parts of the country, signs of early spring movements and those to come later are appearing daily. For example, Northern Parulas are right on time in the southeastern US, as seen in the image below showing the daily changes in the frequencies of occurrence for these species from complete […]  Read more...

After a long and cold go of it in many parts of the eastern US in the past weeks, the prospect for warmer weather, even if ephemeral, is almost certain lighten many moods. So too might it provide a kickstart to early spring migrants that can and often do respond to the rapid onset of […]  Read more...

Every year for the last 15 years, Ron Pittaway of Ontario Field Ornithologists publishes a forecast for the movements of winter finches in the upcoming winter. Team BirdCast loves this. This forecast focuses specifically on the movements of Ontario populations of these species, but many across Canada and the northern US apply the forecast to their areas.  Ron graciously allowed the […]  Read more...