Continental Summary

A big week for migration saw Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Green-tailed Towhee, White-crowned Sparrow, and Golden-crowned Sparrow migrate in light to moderate flights across the West and Blue-winged Teal, Bald Eagle, Swainson’s Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Nashville Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Palm Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, and Baltimore Oriole moving in moderate to heavy flights in the East.

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Quick Links to Regions

Upper Midwest and Northeast	Gulf Coast and Southeast
Great Plains	West

Upper Midwest and Northeast

Light to moderate flights were scattered across the region last weekend, but this relatively small push stood in stark contrast of the movements that would come. A cold front moving through the Great Lakes brought heavy and very heavy flights on Sunday night to the Upper Midwest. The intensity of these flights continued in this part of the region through Tuesday night, as the frontal boundary slowly drifted east. By Wednesday night moderate to heavy flights occurred across much of the region west of the Appalachians, with the coast still experiencing rather warm summer like conditions unfavorable for flights. With the front’s eventual passage off the coast on Thursday night, moderate to heavy flights finally appeared east of the Appalachians while continuing their push in the Upper Midwest. Note that few areas of the coast experienced large flights, away from northern New England early Thursday evening.

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Gulf Coast and Southeast

Primarily unfavorable migration conditions prevailed for the first half of the week. Light to moderate flights were peppered across the region, with little deviation in intensity and relatively limited geographic extent. Wednesday and Thursday nights saw these unfavorable conditions finally break in many areas, with moderate and locally heavy flights following suit. Larger flights were particularly apparent in the southern Appalachians to end the period.

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Great Plains

Quiet weekend beginnings got loud by Sunday night, when moderate to heavy flights prevailed across the region behind a passing cold front. Similarly intense movements occurred in the middle and end of the week, in local pulses, as birds took advantage of several bursts of favorable conditions for flight. Particularly hot this period were areas of the central and southern Plains, which generally experienced larger flights during the pulses of movement than parts further north.

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West

This period saw consistent light to moderate flights for much of the region. Almost all areas of the West participated in the movements: moderate flights early and mid period in the Pacific Northwest; moderate flights in the Rockies and portions of the Desert Southwest mid and late period; and moderate flights from the Great Basin through the eastern front of the Rockies at the end of the period.

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Farnsworth and Van Doren