11/9-11/10 IL Migration Report

Hey all,

Sorry I missed you last night! I'll summarize it a bit here. Birds were definitely moving last night, as we were experiencing north/northwesterly winds. As many observed today along the lakefront, it seems that waterfowl were one of the largest portions of this as passerines become a smaller proportion of total migrating species. Overall, unless you're a hawkwatcher, in which case this is a very enjoyable time of year, the time of year is beginning to demand more focus on waterfowl and gulls, as many of our winter passerine species are already here. Ron Pittaway's winter finch forecast was relatively dismal this year, so most of the nomadic finches we love so much will probably be a small part of this winter's birding. Like all forecasts, Pittaway's is not an end-all be-all, and he is talking about a different region, so we could still get some

Migration Tonight

crossbills or redpolls. But compared to last winter, don't get too excited. Golly, last winter was awesome though, wasn't it?

Tonight's surface analysis. Note the cold front over MN
that is headed our way.

Anyway, with that in mind, let's take a quick look at tonight. High pressure is sitting east of Illinois right now, and its winds are putting a damper on migration in most of Illinois. Southern Illinois, surprisingly, is actually experiencing the most migration. Winds near the center of the system are almost non-existent, so this area is witness to light migration, with birds flying in the absence of a headwind.

Cool. With that out of the way, how about the next

What the winds will look like when
the cold front passes thru tomorrow

couple days? Early tomorrow morning, a cold front is going to move in from north west of us. While it will bring some precipitation and cooler temperates, the north/northwesterly winds following may facilitate a lot more migration. That means Tuesday morning, after a very productive Monday night, you local patch, especially if it holds a lake, may be hoppin' with arrivals and influxes.

Good stuff, you guys. Have a great night.