9/2 IL Migration Report

Hello again,

Tonight's surface analysis

Well today was a pretty fun day to follow from my nook here in NE IL. Red Knot and American Avocet were present at Montrose at one point. The Little Gull continued at Chautauqua. But what really stood out to me, at least, were passerines. Warblers, in many places, seem to be influxing with pretty good numbers. Shorebirds, though now declining from their migratory peak, are also moving in good numbers. The last thing I'd like to know about is how productive hawkwatches were today!

Tonight's migration. Click here to see it animated.

Anyway, tonight, we again have northerly winds in the wake of yesterday's cold front, and now they're getting a little assist from a high pressure system, whose clockwise rotation is giving us northerly winds, as we're on it's east side. These winds are forecast to continue through tonight and into tomorrow, and the radar reflects this, showing light to moderate movements throughout the state. The southern tip of IL seems to be getting the heaviest migration tonight, perhaps because of it being closest to the cold front.

Anyhow, expect more arrivals/influxes of warblers (especially Tennessee, Blackpoll, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, and American Redstart), flycatchers (Least, Yellow-bellied, Olive-sided, and Eastern Wood-pewee) , swallows, vireos, and even the first sparrows; White-throateds should start arriving soon. Teal and Shovelers should be arriving with them. Raptors should be migrating as well; BirdCast suggests Tuesday as a day for those in our region to man the hawkwatches. Make your own predictions as to what will be migrating here: http://bit.ly/17nhLgM. We'll see how it plays out.

Nice. Happy Birding all!