April 14th, 2015

Radar tonight...note the
avian blue noise all over
the northern half of IL

Hey folks,

While tonight the Prairie State is covered by unfavorable northeasterly winds, there's some interesting migration phenomena that make it worth halving the state. Since it's late, let's keep it short and dive right in:

NORTHERN HALF OF ILLINOIS:

While the state overall is receiving northeasterly winds, winds in the northern half of the state are slightly different. They are both notably weaker and notably more easterly. The weakness of these winds, winds that could hardly be called headwinds, is allowing spotty light migration to occur over the northern half of the state. SO, if you're out tomorrow, especially in northeastern Illinois where migration is most concentrated, there may be some sporadic arrivals and influxes.

As often happens, the wind forecast is changing dynamically for us. Winds tomorrow night are forecast to be southeasterly in the northern half of the state, so we may see some slight migration then. Thursday night, while winds will remain southerly-based, is set to be characterized by weak and indecisive winds. So for the next two nights, we'll probably have some migration, but no wow-factor type movements....yet. 

Tonight's winds. Click
to view live.

SOUTHERN HALF OF ILLINOIS:

Tonight in the southern half of the state, winds remain to be strongly northeasterly, keeping most migrants down. For that reason, with the exception of some very light migration showing up in far Southern Illinois, there's little migration to be had in this half of the state.

Winds forecast for Thursday night.

Looking ahead to the next couple days, things are forecast to get a little friendlier for migratory birds. By tomorrow night, winds will be southeasterly in the Southern third of the state. By Thursday night, winds are forecast to be southerly in both Southern and Central IL, which means, you guessed it, more migration. If the wind forecast changes little, it looks like Friday morning will be the next time to look for new migrants.

~

So that's that about that. Curious about what birds you'll find out there? Never fear! Click this eBird page for the data you crave.

Best of luck to all those birding tomorrow! It will be especially interesting to see if anything new is reported from Northern Illinois. Until then, good birding all!