News: Migration

Could recent August observations of Red-breasted Nuthatch in coastal New York represent the beginning of another strong southbound flight of the species this autumn and winter? Read on to consider patterns, correlations, and ways you can help us understand these movements by submitting your observations!  Read more...

Sooty Tern is often the bird of tropical weather systems once ashore (or very close to shore). Numerous records of far-flung individuals pepper the archives of such weather systems, and Hurricane/Tropical Storm Isaias was no exception.  Read more...

Hurricane Isaias is forecast to make landfall in the US on the Carolina coast after grazing the Florida Peninsula and passing directly over the Bahamas and nearby islands. This storm will likely produce hazardous conditions where it passes, including damaging winds, dangerous storm surges, and torrential rains with flooding, and it will bring seabirds and other entrained and displaced species ashore far afield from their typical locations. Check out our live sightings map at the end of the post; and follow updates as we make them.  Read more...

A tropical system is building in the Gulf of Mexico, forecast to intensify in the coming days and then move ashore in central or southern Texas. Whether this system intensifies to hurricane strength or continues as a tropical storm or depression, it is likely to bring an array of seabirds ashore in southern and central Texas and possibly northern Mexico.  Read more...

Tropical Storm Fay is a fast moving system that is forecast to travel a similar path to Hurricane Irene at a similar time as Tropical Storm Bertha. What will this system hold for those that can observe safely in the DelMarVa, coastal New Jersey and Long Island, Hudson River Valley, Lake Champlain, and St. Lawrence RIver Valley areas?  Read more...

As of June 9-10 Team BirdCast is calling spring 2020 a wrap. Our forecasts and live migration maps return on or about 10 August 2020. In the coming months we hope to follow several threads from stories we highlighted during the spring. Here are some possibilities.  Read more...

Here comes Tropical Storm Cristobal, forecast to make landfall in southeastern Louisiana on Sunday evening. With safety the top priority, we briefly highlight a few possible tropical and pelagic species that might appear far inland in the wake of the storm's passage.  Read more...

We are nearing a seasonal window during which many records of Fork-tailed Flycatcher, a spectacular and elegant vagrant to the US from South America, have occurred. The BirdCast team thought you might like to know that conditions could be favorable for the arrival of this wandering species somewhere in the US ... maybe.  Read more...

23 May 2020 on the eastern shore of Virginia brought some migration magic to a small habitat patch for some lucky observers. Just over 200 migrants in a 10-acre patch. Our friend Ned Brinkley describes the action and puts it in proper perspective.  Read more...

A stationary front in the Carolinas, evolving into a cold front and moving offshore with some strong storms and southerly flow in advance of its movement, could make for some interesting birding along the immediate mid Atlantic and Long Island coasts.  Read more...

A massive migration event occurred on the Massachusetts coast on the morning of 16 May 2020. Several observers were fortunate to be on the ground in the right place and the right time. Here's the story!  Read more...

The passage of an unusually intense late May cold front will result in strong northwest winds along the Pacific Coast through the weekend and could bring pelagic goodies to shore.  Read more...

Spring 2020 has seen some anomalously low temperatures in the northeastern US, and no exception is the coolest May going back to the 1990s. But changes are coming this weekend.  Read more...

Although Tropical Storm Arthur is not predicted to make landfall, winds associated with the system's passage will impact the coastal US from the Carolinas through southern New England in the coming days. These winds, depending on location, may be sustained at 20-30 knots for several days, and could bring an array of typically pelagically distributed species ashore.  Read more...

17-19 May 2020 may bring an interesting shorebird event to the Pacific Coast of North America. An approaching strong storm system well timed to coincide with movements of spring shorebird migrants in the eastern Pacific could entrain and displace an array of unusual species.  Read more...

Despite scattered medium to high intensity movements in the past 7-10 days in the northeastern US, punctuating some otherwise abysmally and anomalously cool conditions, tonight will see a significant change. Medium to high intensity movements are predicted across a wide swath of the region, including in areas where fallouts and concentrations may occur as a result of birds interacting with rain.  Read more...

Global Big Day is here, and depending on your region you may have an exciting or depressing migration experience brewing: enter the polar vortex, shutting down movements in much of the East and spawning movements in the far West.  Read more...

BirdCast reports on many aspects of bird migration, and sadly one scenario we encounter is mass mortality during migration. For example sometimes birds are downed when migrating over water, only to be found in the stomachs of tiger sharks; other times birds collide with myriad structures. In this case, we were alerted to a post, […]  Read more...

We are nearing the window of peak migration through the US, and many species are on the move!  Read more...

Medium to high intensity migration spanned the latitudinal breadth of the central US last night.  Read more...