Light and locally moderate movements featuring Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Tundra Swan, Bonaparte’s Gull, Say’s Phoebe, American Pipit, and Rusty Blackbird, were the norm in some parts of the West, while pulses of locally moderate to heavy flights came to the East and featured Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, Ross’s Goose, Common Loon, Rough-legged Hawk, Herring Gull, Hermit Thrush, Snow Bunting, and Dark-eyed Junco.
Curious what birds will move next? Check out our forecast.
Need a review of our definitions for regions, species on the move, and migration amounts? Please visit this link.
Local moderate flights directly behind and far ahead of a frontal boundary kicked off the period on Friday night. As the front moved east, moderate flights became slightly more widespread in its wake. However, the air mass following this frontal passage had sufficient disturbance in the form of precipitation that more widespread flights did not occur. Monday and Tuesday night saw the region’s most intense and extensive flights, first in the Ohio River Valley and then toward the coast, respectively. The next frontal boundary pushing into the region quieted migration significantly. But as it passed by Thursday night across the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley, moderate and locally heavy flights followed.
Top Movers
Increasing
Species
Increase from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Bufflehead
739%
8.2
Hooded Merganser
303%
6.2
Bonaparte's Gull
175%
7.2
American Tree Sparrow
222%
5.3
Ring-necked Duck
125%
4.9
Long-tailed Duck
307%
2.4
Red-breasted Merganser
148%
4.1
Snow Bunting
581%
1.8
Common Loon
86%
7.9
Horned Grebe
161%
3.1
Lesser Scaup
174%
3.3
Common Goldeneye
392%
1.6
Fox Sparrow
113%
4.9
Rough-legged Hawk
413%
1.5
Common Redpoll
2152%
1.2
Common Merganser
105%
4.1
Brant
101%
4.4
American Coot
46%
8.4
Ruddy Duck
56%
7.1
White-winged Scoter
75%
3.3
Red Crossbill
179%
1.1
Herring Gull
14%
18.3
Decreasing
Species
Decrease from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Eastern Phoebe
-68%
4.8
Palm Warbler
-74%
2.5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
-51%
11.8
Yellow-rumped Warbler
-45%
19.3
Eastern Towhee
-54%
5.1
Gray Catbird
-77%
2
Red-winged Blackbird
-41%
15.6
White-crowned Sparrow
-48%
5.5
Swamp Sparrow
-46%
8.7
Chipping Sparrow
-44%
6.9
Lincoln's Sparrow
-77%
0.9
Turkey Vulture
-37%
15.2
Common Grackle
-45%
7
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
-54%
3.2
Killdeer
-45%
5.8
Northern Flicker
-35%
16.3
Savannah Sparrow
-48%
4.4
Song Sparrow
-26%
29.1
Great Egret
-50%
3.8
Brown-headed Cowbird
-56%
1.9
Orange-crowned Warbler
-67%
1
American Robin
-20%
35.6
Hermit Thrush
-42%
5.2
Osprey
-56%
1.6
Ring-billed Gull. Mary Harrell/Macaulay Library. eBird S40254731.
Gulf Coast and Southeast
A passing frontal boundary brought favorable conditions for moderate flights to the region for the weekend. By Monday night a new wave of moderate flights arrived in Texas and portions of the Lower Mississippi River Valley. These movements were promptly shut down Tuesday night as a disturbance passed over this portion of the region, leaving only scattered light to moderate flights in evidence near the Atlantic Coast and in southern Texas. This pattern of far eastern and western pulses of migration intensified to end the period, with some flights even reaching locally heavy amounts.
Top Movers
Increasing
Species
Increase from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Ring-necked Duck
919%
3.3
White-throated Sparrow
104%
10.1
Dark-eyed Junco
212%
3.6
Gadwall
115%
5.1
Hermit Thrush
115%
4.4
Song Sparrow
63%
13.8
Lesser Scaup
1379%
1.5
Yellow-rumped Warbler
56%
23.2
American Coot
61%
9.9
Redhead
377%
1.5
Orange-crowned Warbler
66%
6.7
Snow Goose
857%
1.2
Northern Shoveler
86%
4.9
Green-winged Teal
111%
3.9
Pied-billed Grebe
48%
13.8
American Pipit
195%
2
Ring-billed Gull
66%
5
Chipping Sparrow
47%
7.8
Swamp Sparrow
50%
7.9
Franklin's Gull
466%
1.2
Winter Wren
82%
3.2
Dunlin
86%
3.1
Common Loon
1805%
0.8
Wilson's Snipe
68%
3.3
Hooded Merganser
3046%
0.7
Decreasing
Species
Decrease from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Indigo Bunting
-81%
1.6
White-eyed Vireo
-66%
4.1
Brown Thrasher
-47%
8.2
Common Yellowthroat
-48%
7.4
Black-throated Blue Warbler
-84%
0.7
Gray Catbird
-37%
16.5
Black-and-white Warbler
-53%
4.6
Eastern Wood-Pewee
-89%
0.5
Black-throated Green Warbler
-75%
0.8
Tennessee Warbler
-78%
0.7
Pine Warbler
-39%
7.5
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
-59%
1.5
Nashville Warbler
-57%
0.8
Northern Flicker
-22%
16.1
Peregrine Falcon
-51%
1.2
Broad-winged Hawk
-63%
0.4
Caspian Tern
-31%
2.5
Sharp-shinned Hawk
-34%
2.2
Ross’s Goose. Charles Shield/Macaulay Library. eBird S40270161.
Great Plains
Local and light movements were the norm for most of the first half of the period. By Monday night, however, the southern Plains experienced more intense flights, particularly evident over eastern Oklahoma. This burst of movement was short-lived, as the days that followed held precipitation and little if any migration. A frontal passage to end the period brought a respite from these unfavorable conditions, spawning locally moderate to heavy flights in the central and southern Plains on Thursday night.
Top Movers
Increasing
Species
Increase from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Hooded Merganser
867%
7.6
Cackling Goose
371%
6.9
Lesser Scaup
209%
8.3
Common Loon
603%
4.6
Dark-eyed Junco
83%
41.3
Rough-legged Hawk
278%
6
Redhead
108%
11.4
American Tree Sparrow
119%
9.9
Mallard
54%
33.3
Canvasback
175%
6.9
Northern Shoveler
70%
14.4
Ring-necked Duck
98%
10
Ross's Goose
1172%
2.3
Ruddy Duck
86%
10.3
Canada Goose
38%
31.3
Northern Pintail
87%
8.4
Ring-billed Gull
37%
26.6
Herring Gull
171%
4.2
Greater Scaup
921%
1.9
Gadwall
50%
18.7
Snow Goose
150%
4.5
Whooping Crane
-5733%
1.2
Bufflehead
88%
6.5
Bonaparte's Gull
192%
3.8
Decreasing
Species
Decrease from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Turkey Vulture
-96%
0.5
Lincoln's Sparrow
-81%
1.6
Orange-crowned Warbler
-83%
1.2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
-61%
5.1
Horned Lark
-67%
2.7
Franklin's Gull
-54%
8.6
Common Grackle
-56%
5
Vesper Sparrow
-73%
1.3
Swamp Sparrow
-70%
1.5
Eastern Phoebe
-72%
1.6
Western Meadowlark
-51%
5.6
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
-89%
0.3
Blue-winged Teal
-76%
1.1
Brown-headed Cowbird
-68%
1.4
Great Egret
-66%
1.8
Savannah Sparrow
-44%
5.9
Wood Duck
-59%
2
Chipping Sparrow
-47%
4
White-crowned Sparrow
-37%
7.3
Northern Flicker
-23%
22
Nashville Warbler
-92%
0.1
Sharp-shinned Hawk
-53%
2.3
Yellow-rumped Warbler
-18%
20
Spotted Towhee
-55%
1.7
Clay-colored Sparrow
-94%
0.1
Snow Goose. John Bishop/Macaulay Library. eBird S40274121.
West
Light migration was in evidence in a number of areas for the first half of the period. Most notably, light flights occurred along the Pacific Coast south and east into the Desert Southwest, with a particular apparent area of activity in the Central Valley of California. The second half of the period saw movements continue in these areas, but most of the remainder of the region experienced noticeably less favorable conditions. Precipitation shut down flights in many areas from the Pacific Northwest south and east into the northern and central Rockies.