Aug 29, 2015

Hello birding friends,

This will be a more detailed migration report since it is the weekend (...finally!) and there is a bit more to talk about weather-wise.

Tonight Illinois is experiencing little to no migration whatsoever, as is seen by the very, very negligible amount of blue radar noise on the right. Kind of like last night, the far southern tip of Illinois may see some evidence of a bit of movement tomorrow morning but in very light and local concentrations.

This is due to southeasterly winds which are currently flowing across the state ahead of a frontal boundary weather system that will move in later tonight and into tomorrow. This system can be easily seen on the two radar images on the right, updated as of 9:45pm. To see the current radar, click here.

Tomorrow (Saturday) night has a very interesting and uncertain migration forecast. There are many factors to consider:
1. Winds will be flowing east-northeasterly for the first time in quite a few days, possibly spurring on migrants that have been waiting for an opportunity to fly.
2. The skies are forecast to be overcast which could be problematic because some studies suggest that migrating birds rely on the pattern of the stars to fly in the right direction. This could possibly lessen the density of migration tomorrow night.
3. Finally, if you look at the zoomed-out radar image to the right, you will see that some areas behind the frontal boundary such as Nebraska and Kansas are currently experiencing moderate to heavy migration, which we hope will hold true for Illinois tomorrow night!

So I don't really know what to expect for Sunday morning; however, I suspect that there will be quite an uptick in arrivals and influxes. I will monitor the situation closely and and an even more thorough analyzation should be expected in tomorrow night's report.

You can see the southeasterly winds moving across Illinois shown on the current wind map (shown as of 9:45pm at right).

Birdcast just came out with their August 28 - October 4 migration forecast, which can be seen here. This is a passage copied from the forecast which can give you an idea of which species might be moving through our area this week:

"Generally unfavorable migration conditions prevail...this week, with those pulses of movements that occur featuring Green Heron, Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher...Common Yellowthroat, and Clay-colored Sparrow...the East sees a return to more summer like conditions until more favorable conditions and associated moderate flights of Common Nighthawk, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-winged Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, and Chipping Sparrow come after the middle of the week."

Also, eBird.org's Illinois species occurrence map is always a fantastic resource to see historically which species are moving through at this exact time.

So that's it folks. Nonexistent to a negligible amount of arrivals and influxes will occur tomorrow (Saturday) morning, but quite possibly a large push of migrants might come into the state for Sunday morning.

Good birding!

Henry
trumpetswan@comcast.net
ilmigration.blogspot.com
worldbirding.travellerspoint.com
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