It’s finally the beginning April, but today it felt like it’s quite a bit later. Not just that the temperature almost reached 70 degrees (and parts of New York are forecast to be over 80 degrees tomorrow), but the birds as well.
The continental doppler radar reflectivity mosaic for midnight last night.
The above is a mosaic of targets detected by continental United States doppler weather radars at midnight last night. For those unfamiliar with how to interpret this image, basically all of the blue circular blobs represent birds migrating over doppler radar stations. The darker the blue, the more dense the migration. The reason that the whole surface of the eastern continent is not covered by blue is that these radars are inclined at an angle, so as the beam gets farther away from the station, it samples higher altitudes. Therefore, after the beam gets high enough to get past the layer of migrating birds, the blue stops, explaining the circular pattern around each radar. There is some precipitation scattered around the map (the noncircular formations with green mixed in), mostly in the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas. Using doppler radar to gauge bird migration is a wonderful tool, and it can even be used to “forecast” new waves of migrants moving into our area. A word of caution, though — just because there are lots of birds flying over doesn’t mean they will land at your nearest hotspot. More on this in a future post.
It is obvious from looking at this image that the whole of the eastern seaboard experienced a relatively dense migration event for the time of year last night, perhaps spurred on by the high temperatures. A flurry of early records from around the Northeast supports this, such as a few sightings of Prothonotary Warblers and White-eyed Vireos, birds that don’t normally occur in our region for a few more weeks at least. Even though Long Island doesn’t appear to have been much in on the action (not much blue) last night, I headed down there anyway to do some birding.
Sandhill Crane is a western species that seems to have established a tiny foothold in the northeast. A handful of individuals are reported each year during migration, and there are a few known breeding areas in the region. The Quaker Ridge Hawk Watch, in Greenwich, CT, tallied no less than 9 Sandhill Cranes last fall flying by the watch, and there have been reports in at least Connecticut and New York this spring. One of those reports comprises 2 cranes hanging out in cornfields around Sagaponack, NY, out on the east end of Long Island. That’s where the first stop was today.
The cranes had been reported from multiple locations and weren’t always easy to find, but after a few minutes of driving the roads in the area I spotted them in the way back of a mown cornfield. Looks through the scope were satisfying, but I couldn’t help but wish they were just a tad closer. Here’s a couple digiscoped photos (I really need to get better at this):
Warblings 