Continental Summary: Migration arrivals continued across portion of the West, while the floodgates began to open in many areas of the East. The 5-12 April 2013 animation shows the week’s movements relative to synoptic weather conditions. West Light to moderate movements began the period and continued into the early week in the Desert Southwest, Four Corners, […]  Read more...

As of 1130AM CDT a pair of cold fronts is approaching the Gulf Coast. Most precipitation is presently North and West of the coast, but in the coming hours it will advance to the Gulf of Mexico. Trans-Gulf migrants are already coming ashore, primarily as light to moderate movements, along the Central Texas coast, above […]  Read more...

Back by semi-popular demand from Spring 2012, a basic primer on birding by radar . . . Since the first units were placed along the Gulf Coast in the 1950s, ornithologists and birders have become increasingly aware of the power of using radar as a tool for understanding bird migration. In addition to detecting and […]  Read more...

Last week, Team BirdCast forecast that conditions looked favorable for spring overshoot migrants to occur in areas far to the north of their expected seasonal range. Here, we provide some additional discussion and speculation for what actually transpired. After a frontal boundary swept across the Florida Peninsula, many birds were clearly grounded by unfavorable conditions. The […]  Read more...

With warm air prevailing across the region, sky watchers should plan to spend a little time looking for Swallow-tailed Kites. April is traditionally a good month to find a wandering individual or two of this southern species in locations far to the north of typical present-day breeding locations. This map shows April observations of the […]  Read more...

Continental Summary: A warm up forecast for the East brings a flood of new arrivals during the week and a chance for more fallouts along the Gulf Coast, as much of the West continues to experience typical spring arrivals. See this animation of forecast winds and precipitation for 5-12 April 2013 or below. West Light to […]  Read more...

Continental Summary: Numerous species were on the move in the West this week where light and moderate movements occurred in many areas, whereas hints of the opening of the flood gates to come appeared in several fallouts and some locally moderate and even heavy movements in the East. Please click here for an animation of […]  Read more...

Several weeks ago, Team BirdCast highlighted a set of conditions for spring overshoot migrants, or “slingshot” migrants, to occur substantially farther north of their intended and seasonally appropriate destinations. We see potential for such conditions over the coming 24-48 hours, as a cold front moves across the Florida Peninsula during a period when early southern […]  Read more...

Continental Summary: This week’s migration forecast features an opening of some flood gates for migrant arrivals in the Eastern and Central US, while new arrivals continue to move across many areas of the West. West Mostly favorable conditions bring a forecast for light to moderate movements and continuing spring arrivals for most areas of the […]  Read more...

Wilson’s Warbler was on the move in portions of the West and Gulf Coast and Southeast this past week. This bird was photographed by Brian Sullivan. West Scattered light movements began the period, particularly in the California and portions of the Desert Southwest. By the end of the weekend and beginning of the week, migration […]  Read more...

Continental Summary: This week’s migration forecast features the arrival of a strong high pressure center over the US, which will shut down migration as it approaches and builds, several disturbances that may spawn fallouts, and the potential for some European vagrants to the North and East. An animation of the forecast 925mb winds and precipitation is […]  Read more...

Spring migration continues to ramp up slowly, and early migrants such as Western Kingbird began appearing in numbers during the past week. This individual was photographed on 16 April 2007 by Brian Sullivan. West Scattered light migration occurred in several areas over the course of the week from southern California east through the Desert Southwest. […]  Read more...

We continue to track the Eastern promises that we highlighted in December, as this past weekend provided yet another tantalizing example of the potential fruits of such promises. A Fieldfare was discovered in Carlisle, MA and seen and photographed by many. This is no doubt one of the prizes of any year of Eastern Promises! […]  Read more...

Continental Summary This week’s migration forecast highlights favorable conditions for migrant arrivals in the Gulf Coast region and unfavorable conditions for migrants to advance into much of the West, Great Plains and Upper Midwest and Northeast because of late winter-early spring storms moving east during the forecast period. West Several storms systems will keep migrants […]  Read more...

West Scattered light migration was apparent in some areas of the West, particularly on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The image below, from Thursday evening 14 March 2013, shows light movements in California and portions of the Desert Southwest. Some of this week’s species on the move, as detected in eBird, include some diurnal migrants like […]  Read more...

Continental Summary This week’s migration forecast highlights the effects of a strong frontal boundary crossing the country, facilitating light and scattered moderate movements with its approach to a region and shutting down migration in its wake. West Generally unfavorable conditions ground most migrants, although scattered light migration will occur in isolated areas with more favorable […]  Read more...

Although we are still quite early in the season to discuss the potential for a “slingshot” event that might cause typically southern spring migrants to overshoot their intended destinations along the Atlantic Coast, and although these events are relatively rare each season, team BirdCast would like to highlight some of the conditions along the Atlantic […]  Read more...

Although some portions of the Western US will see light and scattered migration by the middle or end of this week (e.g. the Desert Southwest), this week’s weather is dominated by the passage of Winter Storm Saturn across the Central and Eastern US and mostly unfavorable migration conditions. The animation below shows a morning and […]  Read more...

Enter the lion! A potentially substantial winter storm is brewing, Saturn, and forecasts suggest it will leave its mark across a wide swath of the northern US. We focus on the NE US in this post, because of the continuing thread of Eastern Promises and the potential effects for birds from any Nor’easter. The animation […]  Read more...

As hinted in last week’s post, there was some potential for scattered light migration across portions of the South-Central and Southeastern US. On 19 February 2013, as a substantial frontal boundary approached the Mississippi River valley, conditions for nocturnal bird migration were favorable in many areas of the eastern Gulf Coast east through the Carolinas. […]  Read more...