My biggest Mutton Snapper… ever

Originally uploaded by woodcreeper

…when the birding is slow.

Dry Tortugas, from a kayak, on a yo-zuri mag popper topwater plug… fed 9+ people…gotta love that place.

Cheers

David

As the cold front pushed eastwards over Florida, we saw winds switch from southwesterly to westerly, and then eventually to northerly. Birds left Cuba last night on westerly winds, but were met by north winds as they cross the Florida Straits. Most of these birds appeared to land in the Keys by morning, apparently not wanting to fight the headwind any further than necessary. The same pattern held for South Florida, although birds were able to land sooner and simply truncate their migration once the winds kicked up. The Keys should be pretty birdy this morning, while South Florida should see little chance except for some shifting of density to the north.

Good Birding

David

After a brief glimpse of the radar, it looks like some birds made it into south Florida from the southwest (Cuba, and maybe the eastern Yucatan?), but density was only low to moderate. Another interesting thing is the birds making landfall right now along the west coast of Florida. The movement is light so far, but more concentrated than those coming across the Florida Straits. Will Trans-Gulf migrants be evident along the west coast? Will some get pushed all the way to the east coast? You be the judge!

Good Birding

David

Birds were clearly on the move over Florida last night, but most activity was restricted to birds heading north over the peninsula. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

Frames are every 1/2 hour for reflectivity and velocity, and every hour for the regional composite. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.

A moderate push of migrants made their way out of Cuba last night, landing on the south coast of Florida early this morning. The Miami radar indicates that at least some of this wave made it into southeast Florida. The Key West radar suggests that the majority moved over the Keys and into the southern Everglades, as well as up the southwest coast. Otherwise the big migration show was that of the peninsula, with all Florida radars showing moderate to heavy migration on a S–>N trajectory. With no precipitation to concentrate birds, expect migrants to be dispersed across the landscape and the best conditions to exist at known spring migration hotspots.

There is something else though… the next three nights are really shaping up for a nice push of Trans-Gulf migrants into Florida. As strong low pressure moves into the Atlantic off of the northeast coast of the US, a SW–>NE wind gradient will form between the Yucatan and Central Florida. This trajectory will begin tonight and strengthen (and widen all the way down to the Florida Keys) over the next three nights such that the entire state should be seeing Trans-Gulf migrants by the end of the weekend.

No precipitation is on line for the weekend so birds will be well dispersed across the landscape. The best bets will be the tried-and-true spring migration hotspots… thinking about Connecticut and Bicknell’s as you scour the bushes. Okay, I’m signing off until Monday (a report from the Tortugas will follow).

Good Birding,

David

Please don’t forget to become a member of the Badbirdz/Woodcreeper flock today. You can read the Become a Member post to find out more information.

Sorry for the recent absence, but May is my field season down here in Florida, and usually coincides with some time when I’m away from internet access. I’ve tried over the last three years to make my other site  (www.woodcreeper.com), and more recently recently Badbirdz2.wordpress.com, more “portable”, or “automated” but without a second person willing to take over downloading, assembling, and posting the radar (not to mention any interpretation), that task has become impossible. I thought (incorrectly) that the person doing the programming for my site would have the animations automated by now… I also thought that the satellite internet service we have down in Everglades National Park would be strong enough to download the imagery each morning. Unfortunately it’s barely even strong enough for me to post a message to a blog, or update my migration forecasts on BirdCapeMay.org, both of which are simply text-based.
Believe me, this is more painful to me than you can imagine; so when I receive emails telling me “to give up”, and that I “always bail out right when migration is picking up”, I get a wee bit upset. That said; I understand your frustration!
So here’s the deal. I’m in Florida for the next week and a half, with limited to no internet ability until I return on May 16th. I will have internet tomorrow night (Wed.) and Thursday morning, and will post the radar then. I will be without internet access from Thursday night through Sunday night, and then only very limited access for the rest of next week. From Monday to Friday of next week I will attempt to post text-only entries with respect to the radar. Once I get back to New Jersey on the 16th, I can work on rebuilding the archive of imagery, and continue to provide nightly migration reports with the radar.
As I said (and have said before), I’m sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. My intention is still to eventually provide a constant up-to-date radar interpretation website for Florida… in the meantime I hope you can bear with me.
Good Birding and Radar Watching,

David

Birds were moving over the Sunshine State last night, despite the northwest winds that built in behind the recent front. Apparently the winds were light enough, and birds were ready enough to make the move north. The same cannot be said for Cuba, where no birds were seen leaving from last night.

I received an interesting email yesterday from the “only cop I’ve ever enjoyed the company of”, Mr. Ron Smith, and realized that I was neglecting Trans-Gulf migration into the western part of the state. Being in too many places at once is proving quite difficult- but thanks to Ron an everyone else who has kept me updated, I can pass the migration tip onto you, even if it’s a little late.

Yesterday Lyn Atherton and I were discussing the weather and it was easy for us to see that today (Tuesday) would be a fall-out kind of day at Fort DeSoto. The Trans-Gulf migrants leave the Yucatan at dusk and were off Monday night, flying across the Gulf on a S/SW wind. The front started to show itself in the Tampa Bay area late yesterday afternoon. Those birds got out over the Gulf, mid-way, and ran into it during the night. The front, with winds from the NW/N pushed a bunch of birds into Fort DeSoto and Honeymoon today. Nothing has been posted about it yet – but there will be. Tomorrow and the next few days will also bring in a few birds. I don’t get off work until 4 today – but I’ll be out there til dark. Can’t wait.

You can also check out Ron’s website at: http://www.PinellasBirds.com for daily updates and other features.

Good Birding

David

Randy Newman is going to be at JazzFest… can’t wait to see him!

Woohoo! It’s amazing what a little southwest wind can do… The Key West and Miami radars indicated a BIG flight of migrants into Southeast Florida last night, with little else was moving over the rest of the state (only light movements in Central and North Florida). The flight from Cuba and the Caribbean was pretty huge, with most of the movement was from SW–>NE, favoring southeast Florida and the Keys. I’m out the door to see how Lucky Hammock looks this morning.

Good Birding

David

I was able to hit the Homestead Public Library this afternoon and finally download the radar. Here it is from sunset last night through 7:30am this morning.

Frames are every 1/2 hour for reflectivity and velocity, and every hour for the regional composite. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.

As you can see there was a very large flight of birds into south Florida from Cuba and the Caribbean, as well as a large flight over the entire state. Movement was generally SSE–>NNW. Birds will be dispersed across the landscape today, but should be apparent at spring migrant traps.

Good Birding,

David

Please don’t forget to become a member of the Badbirdz/Woodcreeper flock today. You can read the Become a Member post to find out more information.

Clear skies and light east winds made for another night of heavy migration over Florida. Because of the easterly component, most birds were heading NW over the southern part of the state. A large flight out of Cuba also took a westerly trajectory, most of which is still heading into the Gulf as I type this. Since many birds are over water right now, and the sun is rising, I would expect a late morning fallout of birds in the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas.

Otherwise, good birding conditions should be apparent along the Gulf Coast and inland sites in South Florida this morning, while spring migrant traps along both coasts should be active in Central and Northern Florida.

Of course, your reports are always encouraged, so please come back and let me know what you’re seeing.

Good Birding
David