Welcome to fall migration season, and it is heating up already! These radar grabs from Buffalo and Upton, New York show you some avian migration after the cold front passage a couple days ago. Thursday night into Friday morning saw the arrival of new birds for many areas as flycatchers, vireos, warblers, shorebirds, swallows, blackbirds and more are hitting various staging and roosting areas, following coasts on nonstop trips, or slowly making their way south across our lands. All of the blues and darker greens you see are mostly birds with some insects mixed in. Bright greens, yellow, orange or red areas are ground objects in these cases, such as the wind farm visible to the southeast of the Buffalo radar that bounces the signal back. The Atlantic coast had a little more migratory movement, but take a look at Lake Erie! I took that radar grab as birds were dispersing from the very valuable and perpetually popular Long Point National Wildlife Area in Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada. Spectacular!
Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation & Outreach Coordinator