Regional Migration Analysis: 28 October – 4 November 2016
Andrew FarnsworthThe Cornell LabNov 04, 2016
Long-tailed Duck. Peter Hawrylyshyn/Macaulay Library. eBird S32406018.
Continental Summary
A quiet week in the West for migration saw a few, mostly coastal pulses of light to moderate movements featuring Tundra Swan, Red Phalarope, Bonaparte’s Gull, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Pipit, Cedar Waxwing, and Dark-eyed Junco, while moderate to locally heavy flights associated with frontal passages featured Northern Pintail, Common Goldeneye, Long-tailed Duck, Long-billed Curlew, Northern Shrike, Sedge Wren, and American Tree Sparrow in the East.
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Light to moderate flights in the mid Atlantic kicked off Friday night, followed by a pulse of mostly moderate and locally heavy flights in the Midwest for the remainder of the weekend. A similar, albeit less intense example of the same pattern followed on Monday and Tuesday night. With a frontal boundary moving across the region late in the period, a more extensive mostly moderate intensity flight ended the work week; note that most of this movement was south and west of the eastern Great Lakes.
Top Movers
Increasing
Species
Increase from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Long-tailed Duck
70%
2.7
Hooded Merganser
43%
5.6
Common Loon
35%
8.2
Common Goldeneye
59%
1.7
Horned Grebe
38%
3.8
American Tree Sparrow
41%
5.2
Bufflehead
33%
5.1
Glaucous Gull
382%
0.2
Common Redpoll
250%
0.3
Red-throated Loon
42%
2
Black Guillemot
217%
0.3
American Goldfinch
12%
37.4
Red-breasted Merganser
31%
3.7
Black-capped Chickadee
10%
38.8
Northern Shrike
54%
0.8
Cedar Waxwing
17%
12.2
Eastern Bluebird
13%
16.8
Common Eider
30%
1.7
Franklin's Gull
68%
0.6
Downy Woodpecker
7%
38.8
Decreasing
Species
Decrease from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Tree Swallow
-61%
1.7
Forster's Tern
-55%
0.9
Osprey
-55%
1.2
Eastern Phoebe
-42%
3.8
Blue-headed Vireo
-63%
0.5
Chipping Sparrow
-34%
5.6
Field Sparrow
-31%
4.9
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
-29%
11.2
Cattle Egret
-69%
0.2
Palm Warbler
-38%
2.7
Turkey Vulture
-23%
15.6
Blackpoll Warbler
-64%
0.5
Brant
-38%
2.2
Merlin
-33%
2.4
Lincoln's Sparrow
-52%
0.7
Yellow-rumped Warbler
-24%
16.5
Royal Tern
-40%
1
White-crowned Sparrow
-27%
4.9
Eastern Towhee
-26%
4.4
Sharp-shinned Hawk
-23%
5.4
Gray Catbird
-41%
1.9
Cooper's Hawk
-20%
7.3
Clay-colored Sparrow
-63%
0.1
Long-billed Curlew. Chris Wood/Macaulay Library. eBird S31078652.
Gulf Coast and Southeast
Locally moderate flights kicked off the weekend, with more intense local flights and more widespread moderate flights arriving by Sunday night in most areas. Intensities of movements dropped significantly during the course of the work week, as southerly flow and warmer temperatures built back into the region. But Thursday night saw a break in these conditions, with the return of more widespread moderate and locally heavy flights in almost all but the most southern reaches of the region.
Top Movers
Increasing
Species
Increase from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Black-necked Stilt
182%
5.5
Long-billed Curlew
338%
3.4
Least Grebe
219%
4
Franklin's Gull
488%
2.7
Spotted Sandpiper
109%
6.8
White-tailed Kite
296%
2.8
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
92%
7.3
Black Phoebe
521%
2.3
Northern Pintail
159%
4.4
Decreasing
Species
Decrease from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
-69%
0.5
Northern Flicker
-28%
15.4
Tundra Swan
-94%
0
Blue Jay
-23%
37
Red-bellied Woodpecker
-20%
32.4
White-crowned Sparrow
-39%
2.1
Brown Thrasher
-25%
9.4
Lincoln's Sparrow
-35%
2
Red-breasted Nuthatch
-33%
2.3
Great Black-backed Gull
-44%
0.5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
-25%
8.8
American Crow
-17%
29.7
Pine Warbler
-21%
7.8
Downy Woodpecker
-15%
21.7
Northern Cardinal
-13%
42.1
Indigo Bunting
-22%
2.9
House Finch
-15%
15.3
Brown Creeper
-32%
1.2
Common Raven
-38%
0.8
Prairie Warbler
-32%
1.8
American Goldfinch. Jack and Shirley Foreman/Macaulay Library. eBird S32403455.
Great Plains
Locally moderate to heavy pulses were the norm for the entire period across the region. No region wide movements occurred, primarily because of multiple passing disturbance that were neither intense nor extensive in their extents. The heavies flights occurred in the southern Plains, on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, with Thursday’s flight the most intense in particular over eastern Oklahoma.
Top Movers
Increasing
Species
Increase from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Northern Shrike
302%
3
American Tree Sparrow
64%
12.8
Golden Eagle
585%
1.4
American Goldfinch
29%
30.6
Greater White-fronted Goose
121%
6.1
Pacific Loon
634%
0.9
Dark-eyed Junco
21%
46.5
White-faced Ibis
88%
2
Black-crowned Night-Heron
229%
1.2
Sedge Wren
230%
2.4
Song Sparrow
16%
23.7
Herring Gull
29%
6.5
Snow Goose
31%
4.4
Red-breasted Nuthatch
19%
9.6
Purple Finch
33%
3
Common Loon
26%
4
Ferruginous Hawk
350%
1
Redhead
18%
13
Black-capped Chickadee
13%
26.3
Fox Sparrow
20%
6.8
Green-winged Teal
16%
15.9
Brown Creeper
17%
6.2
Downy Woodpecker
9%
28.2
Decreasing
Species
Decrease from Last Week
% of Checklists Reporting
Orange-crowned Warbler
-81%
0.8
Eastern Towhee
-89%
0.1
Turkey Vulture
-66%
2.2
Barn Swallow
-92%
0.1
Osprey
-41%
2.1
Fish Crow
-75%
0.1
Carolina Chickadee
-20%
10
Yellow-rumped Warbler
-15%
17.9
Pine Siskin
-63%
0.3
Clay-colored Sparrow
-53%
0.5
Pectoral Sandpiper
-67%
0.2
Great Egret
-19%
7.5
Chipping Sparrow
-23%
5.7
Blue-headed Vireo
-85%
0.1
Snow Bunting
-67%
0.6
Red-shouldered Hawk
-18%
6.9
Black-bellied Plover
-47%
0.5
Double-crested Cormorant
-9%
27
Common Yellowthroat
-74%
0.1
Mourning Dove
-11%
16.8
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
-117%
-0.2
Eastern Phoebe
-26%
3
Least Sandpiper
-22%
3.8
Red Phalarope. Dan Murphy/Macaulay Library. eBird S32390809.
West
Aside from the isolated moderate flights in the Pacific Northwest on Friday night, the West experienced a quiet migration weekend. Scattered precipitation and some unfavorable winds kept birds grounded in many areas. Scattered light movements aside, the next more intense flight came in California on Tuesday night reaching moderate levels. Slightly less intense but similarly distributed, more coastal, flights continued through the end of the period, most notably reaching their greatest extents on Thursday night.