News: Forecast and Analysis

From time to time Team BirdCast likes to wander a bit farther afield than usual, and this post is no exception. Several of our colleagues finds themselves on St. Paul and St. Lawrence, Alaskan islands in the middle of the Bering Sea. Fall can be an exciting time in such locations, with the potential of […]  Read more...

Continental Summary: The West continues to experience light to moderate movements, as the East gets a pulse of moderate to heavy movements with the passage of high pressure through the region. Birds on the move this week will include Eastern Kingbird, Barn Swallow, Swainson’s Thrush, numerous warblers and Baltimore Oriole. West Scattered precipitation across the […]  Read more...

Continental Summary Light to moderate movements were widespread across the country this past week, with each of the BirdCast regions experiencing some nice pulses of birds. Of particular note was the higher than anticipated magnitude and intensity of movements early in the period in the Southeast. Birds on the move this week included Green-winged and […]  Read more...

Continental Summary: Scattered precipitation in many areas mutes otherwise light to locally moderate movements in the West, as much of the East, particularly the Northeast, sees an early weekend movement before waiting for its first big migration pulse at the end of the forecast period. Birds on the move this week will include Green-winged Teal, […]  Read more...

Continental Summary Light to moderate movements across the West were apparent on most nights of the period, as the East experienced a major pulse of moderate migration at the end of the week. Birds on the move this week included Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black-and-white and Wilson’s Warblers, American Redstart, and […]  Read more...

Continental Summary The West will experience light to moderate movements early and late in the forecast period, and locally midweek where scattered precipitation is not falling, as the East experiences a mostly marginal and unfavorable weather week that will allow mostly light and locally moderate movements interspersed among increasingly prevalent showers and precipitation as the […]  Read more...

Continental Summary Light to moderate movements were the norm for the West and the East this week, as fall migration gradually becomes more apparent with each week. Birds on the move this week included Great Egret, Baird’s, White-rumped, Solitary, and Pectoral Sandpipers, Barn Swallow, Purple Martin, Yellow and Wilson’s Warblers. West Light to locally moderate […]  Read more...

Continental Summary Scattered light and locally moderate movements will occur across the West, while two primarily northeastern pulses of light to moderate and locally heavy movements occur among storm systems in the East. West To begin the weekend, scattered precipitation will keep most birds on the ground from northern California East through the Great Basin […]  Read more...

Continental Summary The West experienced primarily light movements, particularly toward the Pacific Coast and over the Desert Southwest, while the East experience light to moderate movements, primarily along a corridor from the northern Great Plains South and East toward the Gulf Coast. Please note, we have posted two animated maps in this analysis because the […]  Read more...

Continental Summary The West sees light movements away from scattered precipitation over the next week, particularly along the Pacific Coast, as light to locally moderate movements associated with the passage of high pressure in the East occur primarily the northern Great Plains and portions of the Northeast. Birders should pay  attention to precipitation as it […]  Read more...

Continental Summary: Some light to moderate movements continued in the West, as the last of the moderate and locally heavy movements occurred in the East. Species on the move this week included Ruddy Turnstone, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-bellied and Alder Flycatchers, and Gray-cheeked Thrush. Note that our colleagues at University of Wyoming experienced some problems with […]  Read more...

Continental: With peak migration of many species past, this week will see diminish but still evident light movements in the West, while the East continues to see increasingly scattered late season moderate to isolated heavy movements. Birds on the move this week will include late season shorebirds including Red Knot and White-rumped Sandpiper, Alder and […]  Read more...

Continental Summary: Primarily light movements occurred in the West as the clock on this season’s migration continued to wind down, while moderate to locally heavy movements continued in a number of areas East of the Rockies. Birds on the move this week included Ruddy Turnstone, Olive-sided, Willow and Alder Flycatchers, Cedar Waxwing, and Mourning and […]  Read more...

Continental: Light to moderate movements continue in many portions of the West, as moderate to heavy movements shift increasingly farther North in the East in areas away from precipitation. Heavy movements in the southern US will begin to wane over the course of this week and next as we near the end of another migration […]  Read more...

Continental: Generally favorable conditions across much of the West brought continuing light to moderate movements, but the parade of fronts across the East brought widely varying size and distribution of movements in conditions changing rapidly from day to day. Species on the move this week included Veery, Gray Catbird, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Chestnut-sided and Blackpoll […]  Read more...

Continental: Continued light to moderate movements are again the norm for the West away from areas of precipitation, as the East waits to experience moderate to heavy movements in many areas until the middle of the week. Birds on the move this week will include Willow Flycatcher, Swainson’s Thrush, Magnolia, Canada, Wilson’s, Blackpoll, and Bay-breasted […]  Read more...

Continental: Light to moderate movements across much of the West exemplified more of the steady push of birds into the region, while the East received a jolt of birds midweek, including some movements into the Northeast after many days with a trickle. Birds on the move this week included Least Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Gray Catbird, […]  Read more...

Continental: Unsettled weather across the West and the East complicates the migration scene this week, with light to moderate movements apparent in the West and moderate to heavy movements in the East away from rain. Numerous species are on the move this week, including Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Least Flycatcher, Wood Thrush, American Redstart, Yellow, Magnolia, Blackburnian, […]  Read more...

Continental Summary: Light to moderate movements were widespread in the West, while the movements in the East continued to run the gamut from nonexistent to heavy in a wide range of weather conditions. Birds on the move this week included Warbling Vireo, House Wren, Gray Catbird, Yellow Warbler, and Baltimore Oriole. West Light to moderate […]  Read more...

Continental Summary: The West will experience light to moderate movements for the entire period in generally favorable conditions for migration, whereas conditions in the East are forecast to be complex but favorable for moderate to heavy movements in many areas and fallouts along the Gulf Coast. Birds on the move this week include Least Flycatcher, […]  Read more...