Saturday, March 7, 2009
Spring Migration 2009
posted by David La Puma | 10:35 PM
Spring is in the air.
Just today while swinging in my hammock in Central New Jersey, a moth landed on my arm just long enough for me to say "huh... a moth... I haven't seen one of those in awhile". Just then I heard some Brown-headed Cowbirds vocalizing (a sound I both loathe, because of their parasitic nature, and love, because it signals the end of winter), and looked up to find three males posturing at the top of a sycamore tree... yup, spring is in the air.
Tonight, just before moving my clocks forward and turning in, I checked the local radar to see what was going on overhead. With the winds light and southwesterly, I wasn't surprised to see a moderate movement of birds over the mid-Atlantic. I'd suspect that the majority of these are robins, white-throated sparrows, juncos, etc., but just the fact that there are enough birds entering the atmosphere to show up on the radar gets me all excited.
So I guess this post will mark the beginning of the spring migration forecasts on Birdcapemay.org. Since it's still early, I'll be posting periodically only when conditions are looking favorable. As we get going into April, though, I'll begin to post the typical 5-day forecasts, and increase frequency when things really get interesting. Of course, you can always come here and check the live radar using the interactive map at the top of this page.
In the meantime, you can see how Neotropical migration is ramping up down south by following my friends Angel and Mariel as they post the nightly radar from South Florida on http://badbirdz2.wordpress.com.
Good Birding!
David La Puma
Just today while swinging in my hammock in Central New Jersey, a moth landed on my arm just long enough for me to say "huh... a moth... I haven't seen one of those in awhile". Just then I heard some Brown-headed Cowbirds vocalizing (a sound I both loathe, because of their parasitic nature, and love, because it signals the end of winter), and looked up to find three males posturing at the top of a sycamore tree... yup, spring is in the air.
Tonight, just before moving my clocks forward and turning in, I checked the local radar to see what was going on overhead. With the winds light and southwesterly, I wasn't surprised to see a moderate movement of birds over the mid-Atlantic. I'd suspect that the majority of these are robins, white-throated sparrows, juncos, etc., but just the fact that there are enough birds entering the atmosphere to show up on the radar gets me all excited.
So I guess this post will mark the beginning of the spring migration forecasts on Birdcapemay.org. Since it's still early, I'll be posting periodically only when conditions are looking favorable. As we get going into April, though, I'll begin to post the typical 5-day forecasts, and increase frequency when things really get interesting. Of course, you can always come here and check the live radar using the interactive map at the top of this page.
In the meantime, you can see how Neotropical migration is ramping up down south by following my friends Angel and Mariel as they post the nightly radar from South Florida on http://badbirdz2.wordpress.com.
Good Birding!
David La Puma
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