At-a-Glance Forecast

Fri.PM	Sat.AM	Sat.PM	Sun.AM	Sun.PM	Mon.AM	Mon.PM	Tue.AM

Migration Weather Forecast

"Ground control to major Tom:

Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong.

Can you hear me major Tom? Can you...."

Yeah, well it appears we had a bad circuit, or something, which is why the migration forecast was late this week. I'm sorry for any inconvenience it might have caused... I know the powers that be are working hard to make sure it doesn't happen again. In the meantime we had a good push of early fall migrants on Tuesday night and a smaller push on Wednesday night resulting in a few new migrants being spotted across the region. On the warbler front, multiple Mourning warblers have been spotted throughout New Jersey while several Golden-winged and Cerulean warblers were reported from Cape May. Shorebirds continue to build up at places such as Jamaica Bay (NY), the Brigantine area of Forsythe NWR (NJ) and Bombay Hook (DE), and some of the first movements of Broad-winged Hawks have been reported from the ridges in northwestern New Jersey.

While the next few days don't look particularly good for migration, the next cold front is on the way after the weekend and we can expect a big push into the region upon its arrival.

Friday - Sunday Night

High pressure parked offshore will dominate the region through the weekend, increasing the southerly flow across the mid-Atlantic. Expect little to no migration during this period.

Monday Night

The current forecast has a cold front moving in from Canada on Monday and hopefully clearing at least part of the mid-Atlantic by Monday night. Winds behind the cold front will be northwesterly, and given the three days without migration, will surely trigger heavy migration over the region. Little to no precipitation is expected with this front so the best birding locations will be dictated by the wind direction early Tuesday morning.

Birding Forecast

Saturday - Monday Morning

Thank goodness that poor migration conditions don't mean bad birding! There are plenty of birds around right now (see my opening paragraph for some specific locations) and this is a great time to get out and see some of the earlier migrants before they leave the region for good. Shore-birding should be excellent during this time but save your trips to your favorite hawk watch for when the northerly winds build back in.

Tuesday Morning

Updated:Tuesday morning is looking great so far, with heavy migration evident on all radars across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic US. With northerly winds at the surface and westerly winds aloft, birds will probably be negotiating the two to maximize the best tailwind. These conditions will likely lead to a good number of birds being pushed to the coast overnight, which translates to good birding conditions on Tuesday morning, as birds orient back to shore during first light. Good birding locations for tomorrow will be coastal, including Sandy Hook (NJ), Island Beach State Park (NJ) and Cape May (NJ).

As always, to find more information on what's being seen TODAY in Cape May, check out the View From the Cape, on BirdCapeMay.org

Good Birding,

David La Puma