Birds into the Sunshine State, and some local movements

The radar indicates a light to moderate flight of birds into northern Florida, with smaller localized movements further south. Here’s the radar from sunset last night through 5:00am this morning.

Frames are every 1/2 hour. Click on the thumbnail to view the full-sized animation.

From the western panhandle to the northeast coast, radar returns indicate birds were heading into the Sunshine State. Generally birds were moving W->E along the panhandle, and more N->S towards the east coast, effectively funneling birds down into the peninsula. Upon initial inspection of the regional image it appeared that nothing had migrated over southern Florida, but after viewing the individual radar loops it became apparent that a pulse of birds did move in from the northwest and reached the greater Miami area by morning. In the Florida Keys I could see no visible exodus over the Florida Straits, but what was apparent was some island hopping between the upper and lower keys. Therefore, the lower Keys should see some new birds this morning.

Of course your observations from the field are an important part of making this website what it is- so please stop by and let us know what you saw!

Good Birding,

David