“Fall” Radar Migration
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,...
Read MoreRadar Migration Overnight April 3, 2015
Here’s a radar grab from the overnight period of April 2 into April 3, 2015. As you can see precipitation is moving across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic with heavier waves to the west and lighter showers to the east. Midwestern areas had strong and severe thunderstorms while the Atlantic Coast especially had moderate avian migration occurring – see the diffuse and circular areas of blue centered around radar stations contrasting with the green rain. Birds avoiding this wet weather included a lot of sparrows like the White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow and Swamp...
Read MoreLake effect snow on radar
This heavy band of lake effect snow was ripping off of Lake Erie and belting Buffalo earlier this evening. It has since moved south, remaining mostly just north of Chautauqua County and hitting Erie County into Wyoming County. How much is falling? A midnight update from the National Weather Service said: * AT 1153 PM EST…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED AN INTENSE LAKE EFFECT SNOW BAND CAPABLE OF PRODUCING SNOWFALL RATES OF 3 TO 4 INCHES PER HOUR…AND VISIBILITY OF A QUARTER OF A MILE OR LESS. THIS LAKE EFFECT SNOW BAND WAS ABOUT 10 TO 15 MILES WIDE WITH THE...
Read MoreHeavy and low avian migration in Jamestown
This past Wednesday, October 15, I was outside in downtown Jamestown, New York, for much of the night. An area of low pressure had moved by earlier in the day and precipitation had cleared. Clouds were thinning and moving east. There are plenty of unnatural noises to hear on a typical night in the City of Jamestown – music, people shouting, vehicles and often large trucks passing by. There was also an incessant yet subtle chorus of noises coming from the low levels of the sky in the form of avian flight calls! Birds were moving south and in strong numbers with almost endless peeps and...
Read MoreSouthbound migration moving east
As the front finishes passing through the Mid-Atlantic and New England birds are moving south in moderate numbers in western sections of those regions with heavy migration occurring throughout the Midwest. More will be on the move as the night progresses and tomorrow should be better for areas further east. Enjoy a lovely and cool Sunday morning outside seeing all the new avian arrivals!
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