10/21 IL Migration Report

BOOM! IL gets heavy migration to the
exclusion of almost every other state.

Hey everybody!

So lucky for us, Illinois is about the only state in the country covered by heavy migration right now. The cold front I mentioned a couple of days ago came through in the past few hours, and left us with weak yet northerly winds. These conditions along with the decreasing temperatures continue to spur migrants south of us. Everything from thrushes to sparrows should be making their final movements south of us providing that they're not winter residents, and more wintery species should be arriving in decent numbers some time soon. This means birders should keep an eye out for incoming diving ducks, any gulls of interest, increases in Junco numbers, and perhaps the first American Tree Sparrows. Also keep your eyes peeled for the first arriving Northern Shrikes and Snow Buntings. Predict what you'll be finding here: http://bit.ly/17nhLgM

Regardless, the radar's really glowing tonight. Somewhere around 1,000 birds are migrating per square kilometer over Illinois, so expect your local patch to be hoppin' tomorrow.

Looking into tomorrow and beyond, it appears that winds will become southerly and unfavorable tomorrow,

Winds forecast for tomorrow night

but never fear; winds are forecast to again be northerly by Tuesday night. From there, winds are forecast to remain northwesterly at least into Wednesday night.

Good stuff, folks. Happy birdings.

That cold front, now just leaving IL, left us with very favorable conditions for migration.