5/8 IL Migration Report

Almost southerly...

Tonight's winds...almost not there.

Today was an interesting day, with migration having finally occurred at some notable levels last night. In spite of this, though some arrivals and influxes were noted, concentrations of migrants were rather low today. The warbler count, for example, was lower on many birders' counts today. There were a few isolated, interesting reports, but it was very hard to discern any mass movements from last night, likely because last night was on the lighter side of migration.

Tonight has kicked it up one very small level, and this is solely because of weak winds with a slightly more southerly orientation. We see mostly light but some moderate migration in the state right now, and even some heavy movement in Southern IL right now (sweet!). Interestingly, the northern half of the state has extremely confusing wind direction tonight (http://bit.ly/13BTUa6), while the southern half is experiencing more definitely westerly winds (http://bit.ly/13BTVuX). This doesn't matter much now, http://bit.ly/10Qfjz3), but looking at the wind forecasts, it matters a lot. Northern IL, with the more confused winds, is forecast to remain with these winds at least through Friday (scroll through this wind forecast: http://bit.ly/10Qj1Zr). So it looks like more favorable conditions that might have been may not be coming, unless you're in Central, or especially Southern IL. Southern IL, with more definite westerly winds tonight, will gradually shift into the influence of southerly winds and then back to westerly by Friday (scroll through this wind forecast: http://bit.ly/10QiZAS). This means migration will be much better the next couple of nights in Southern IL than in Northern IL, and the radar tonight reflects this. That said, as we've seen between last night and tonight, these forecasts can change rapidly, so always keep an eye on things. And with these weak winds, birds will still be migrating throughout the state tonight...just more in Southern IL.

as the winds are so weak that light to moderate migration is happening anyway (

***So if you're in Southern or Central IL, tomorrow and especially Friday morning will be the best times to find new arrivals and influxes. If you're in Northern IL, tomorrow should be the best day for migrants compared to the next few days, but even then, concentrations shouldn't be huge***. Expect a few arrivals/influxes, but not anything big by any stretch of the imagination.

To see a giant list of birds to look for, see the bottom of yesterday's report: http://bit.ly/13BYB3K

That's what I got, folks. Keep an eye on the radar, and most importantly the winds. Highly favorable will come again at some point soon...we just have to be ready!

The culprit of all this craziness: low-pressure all over the place.