31 August 2020
Songbirds migrate in the dark and last night was a busy one for them above Pennsylvania. At 2am national radar data showed them moving west-southwest across PA on their way to the Ohio Valley. (BirdCast screenshot above.)
By 5am they were getting ready to stop for the night. In the map below they appear to set down just inside western Pennsylvania. Woo hoo!
How good is my prediction that “birds arrived overnight?” I’ll let you know what I see today.
Fingers crossed.
p.s. Learn how to use BirdCast to plan your next birding adventure in this article: A Good Day For Birding? Check These Maps.
UPDATE AT 5PM: I went with friends to Moraine State Park from 9:30a-12:30p and saw 8 species of warblers, flycatchers, lots of cedar waxwings, Baltimore orioles, blue jays, chimney swifts, etc. Yay!
(screenshots from BirdCast on 31 Aug 2020)
yesterday I saw a tiny bird that appeared to be completely yellow. It was a bright yellow.
It was in a tree by itself not making any noise. it was hard to get a good look because the bird kept moving from limb to limb. this was in the center of busy Oakland.
Mary, it sounds like you found a warbler visiting on its way south. Cool!
Kate, I got out early at Harrison Hills base on the radar and was rewarded with 8 species and 20 individuals that I could identify. There were at least another 20 I couldn’t. They moved through in 2 waves making it hard to get eyes on them
I went to Moraine with Debbie Kalbfleisch and Melissa Little. We saw 8 species of warblers too. Yay!
Very quiet here in Green Tree. 🙁