http://ebird.org/content/ebird daily 1 2008-03-13T17:30:02Z http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/bcf051812 While team eBird is in Alaska, our April eBirder of the month, Benjamin Van Doren, is our guest BirdCaster. Benjamin has a talent for understanding migration, developing an ambitious project to gather morning flight data from dozens birdwatchers in the Northeast that was recognized with a 5th place in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search. Take it away, Benjamin! Many areas of the West will experience light to moderate movements, especially the southeastern portion (New Mexico and environs), when not dealing with precipitation. Strong, far-reaching southerly flow over the Great Plains will spur moderate to heavy passage, interrupted by precipitation with potential to put down migrating birds. The Upper Midwest will also see favorable conditions punctuated by rain, as light to moderate movements continue to the east when not hampered by precipitation. Texas and some parts of the western Gulf Coast will see conditions favorable for movement, but scattered precipitation and subpar winds will slow migrants’ tracks through the Southeast, at least until late next week. No publisher bls42 2012-05-18T09:02:23Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/bmr051812 Diversity and abundance of migrants remained high across much of the US during this forecast period. Presumably, this period and the next will be the last to have such diversity and abundance during this spring season, as many migrants have arrived or will soon arrive at their breeding destinations. Moderate to heavy movements occurred more often than not across the eastern half of the country, whereas widespread light to moderate movements were the norm in the West. See below for a bit more detail on the happenings of the past week! No publisher bls42 2012-05-22T05:18:29Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/bcf20120511 High pressure will dominate much of the country during this forecast period. The West will experience widespread light to moderate migration this week, as high pressure and warmer temperatures build in across most of the region. Moderate to heavy movements will occur in the Great Plains, despite scattered precipitation that may inhibit movements locally. Despite largely unfavorable winds aloft for much of the period, most areas of the Upper Midwest and Northeast will experience moderate to heavy movements this week; the threat of scattered precipitation will diminish movements in some locations. The Gulf Coast and Southeast should see an influx of trans-Gulf migrants in the western Gulf early in the weekend, in the eastern Gulf early next week, and generally widespread moderate to heavy movements inland, despite some periods of unfavorable winds aloft and the threat of scattered precipitation early in the period. Birders in coastal areas should watch for potential fallouts through the early portion of the week. No publisher chris.wood 2012-05-12T02:55:08Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/bcr20120511 As one might expect near the peak of spring migration diversity and abundance, this week saw nights with moderate to heavy migration across many areas of the continental US. In fact, higher than expected migration amounts occurred on several nights during the forecast period in multiple different portions of the region. Although we could easily chalk these anomalies up to slight differences in the observed weather relative to the original forecast, a better explanation is that we underestimated birds' drives to reach their destinations! Read below for a brief summary of last week's migration, and read this week's BirdCast Forecast to know what to expect in the week ahead. No publisher bls42 2012-05-12T02:55:03Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/data_gaps eBirders often email us and ask where they should go birding in order to make the biggest impact in regions with little data. It's perhaps little surprise that eBird checklist submissions are most dense in areas with large human populations, so getting away from those areas is a good first step for filling in the data gaps in eBird. But seeing these gaps can be really astonishing, and with the help of map wizards Paul Hurtado and Tom Auer, we've come up with a few neat ways to visualize eBird data density at the county level. These maps are a visualization of the total number of eBird checklists submitted in each US county in the month of May across all years, or the total number of checklists per square mile of county area--a better way to see data density in states with large counties. So find a county that has sparse data, and then go do as many eBird checklists as you can there this May! No publisher bls42 2012-05-11T16:48:26Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/laysan-ebirding Those who closely follow recent conservation measures in the United States may have already heard about the historic reintroduction of the Millerbird to Laysan, an island in the northwest Hawaiian archipelago. But for many birders, this obscure Old World warbler is probably unfamiliar--the only member of its family endemic to Hawaii. In this article, we follow two eBirders--Cameron Rutt and Robby Kohley--as they provide a glimpse of the abundance of bird life that surrounds the Millerbird on its new-found home. For more information on the Millerbird, including the first successful fledgling (!), please visit see this website. Many thanks to Cameron for providing this exciting account of their visit to Laysan, the vagrants they found and documented, and how they used eBird to quantify the abundance of seabirds and other specialties on this remote Pacific island. No publisher marshall.iliff 2012-05-10T20:09:58Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/bcf20120504 As several low pressure centers and their associated precipitation progress across the country, migration levels will vary more than usual. Primarily light to moderate movements will occur across more southerly portions of the West, whereas precipitation and generally unfavorable winds aloft will keep most migrants in more northerly portions grounded. Although a few areas of the Great Plains may see moderate to heavy movements early in the period and scattered movements for the remainder of the period, most areas will experience rather poor conditions for migration on most nights this week. Poor migration conditions will prevail more often than not across the Upper Midwest and Northeast, but birders should watch closely for marginally favorable migration conditions to develop, possibly producing moderate movements and fallouts may occur. The Gulf Coast and Southeast are in for another week of moderate to heavy movements, punctuated by a strong possibility of fallout conditions from Texas to the eastern Gulf late in the period. No publisher marshall.iliff 2012-05-08T18:53:57Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/bcr20120504 Late April and early May is peak migration for many of the more southerly sections of the United States, with the northern states and southern Canadian provinces seeing peak movements during the second and third weeks of May. By late April, the latest-arriving migrants in Texas and Florida should be making their first appearances, and this was true this week. Almost regardless of the weather, new arrivals and obvious migration were apparent throughout North America this week. With so many birds on the move, weather had a profound effect on bird movements this week. The amazing fallout on Key West is one such example. In general, cool and wet weather suppressed migration in the West and Northeast, but southerly flow allowed for some great movements into the mid-continent. When migration is stalled by weather (as it has been this week), be prepared to get out birding as soon as the weather breaks, since it could bring a flood of migrants! Read below for a summary of last week's migration, and read this week's BirdCast Forecast to know what to expect in the week ahead. No publisher marshall.iliff 2012-05-08T19:37:13Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/bcf20120427 While most of Team eBird is down in Texas making Big Day history, I, David La Puma, have been charged with filling in for them in writing this week's migration forecast. In doing so, I have also called upon a team of migration experts from across the country to weigh in on the regional components of this most exciting BirdCast. Thanks to Drew Weber, Greg Haworth, Max Henschell, Tom Auer, Tim Schreckengost, Angel and Mariel Abreu for their contributions and local expertise. Thanks also to Team eBird’s Brian Sullivan and NOAA’s Dave Nicosia for their insight into species distributions and weather respectively. Now, let the games begin. No publisher bls42 2012-05-04T17:06:57Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/bcr20120427 This was an exciting week in spring migration as things really began to ramp up on a continental scale. The West saw significant movement throughout the region with a consistent flow of birds from the south, and some of the heaviest migration to date for the Pacific Northwest. After a slow start during the weekend, things really ramped up over the Great Plains and we saw some very high densities of birds trucking through the middle of the country by early in the week. The Upper Midwest has yet to realize the wave of migrants yet to come, but did see some variable migration result in a handful of new spring arrivals this week. The Northeast too is waiting for the big push, but did have several good movements into the Ohio Valley and Mid Atlantic by the end of the week. The Gulf Coast and Southeast were hotspots of activity throughout most of the forecast period, and with birds streaming in from Mexico and the Caribbean we only expect it to get better. No publisher bls42 2012-04-27T17:24:08Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/support_ebird_TX The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's “Team Sapsucker" has a long history of participating in big days. For over 20 years the Sapsuckers have competed in the World Series of Birding, and in the process have broken fund-raising records to help support bird conservation around the world. Last year we went to Texas and broke the National Big Day record with a total of 264 species and, more importantly, raised over $250,000 for bird conservation. While pleased with this effort, we think we can do better. We are returning to Texas with our eyes set on finding more species and raising even more conservation funds. We hope that you will consider pledging your support for our team. Your contributions will help us continue to improve eBird, making it better for you, better for research, and better for bird conservation. Please donate now. To ensure your donation goes to eBird, please click the check box that says "eBird citizen-science and bird-monitoring efforts". No publisher chris.wood 2012-04-20T20:01:16Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/bcf20120420 Areas of the western US lacking precipitation should experience widespread light to moderate migration early in the forecast period, but an increasing threat of precipitation later in the week may shut down movements in many places. The Great Plains begin the period with largely unfavorable conditions for bird movement, but by midweek southerly flow returns and widespread moderate movements should occur. A frontal passage will make for poor conditions across the Upper Midwest, but favorable conditions for moderate movements in the Northeast to begin the period. Better conditions for more widespread moderate movements should develop around midweek. The Gulf Coast and Southeast begin the period with the passage of a front that could spawn some coastal fallouts in the western Gulf region; but this front will shut down the trans-Gulf migration system until midweek, when a return to more widespread moderate movements begins. No publisher chris.wood 2012-05-08T19:09:21Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/bcr20120420 This week saw widespread arrivals of a diversity of species in many areas--far too many to mention in full. In general, most Neotropical migrants have now reached the southern U.S. A few very late species such as Willow Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and western Yellow-billed Cuckoos and Common Nighthawks, are still well to the south of the United States, with their peak migration not until May (late May for the cuckoos and nighthawks). Our BirdCast for the week of 31 March to 5 April discusses the concept of "fallout", how it occurs, and what to watch for to try to witness one. This week had several noteworthy events: a classic Texas fallout, good migration in the West, and a great hawk day on the Great Lakes. We'll touch on each of those this week. No publisher marshall.iliff 2012-05-08T18:57:30Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/bcf20120413 Expect the best migration so far this year for at least portions of this week throughout North America. Many areas of the country will see fallout potential this week for passerines and waterbirds. The Desert Southwest and scattered areas of the West should see at least light to moderate movements, and the potential for precipitation means birders should keep a watchful eye on migrant traps. The Great Plains should see an infusion of migrants early in the period before a front passes through the region. Birders in the Upper Midwest and Northeast should finally have a respite from the lackluster migration of the last several weeks, with moderate migration more widespread with the southwesterly flow. The Gulf Coast and Southeast should watch the passage of the low pressure system moving eastward across the country. It may spawn fallout conditions in numerous states from early in the week through to almost the end of the forecast period. See below for radar imagery showing a strong arrival of birds on the Texas Coast late of Friday. No publisher chris.wood 2012-04-14T02:43:32Z Feature http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/birdcast-migration-report-6-april-12-april-2012 We will step through last week's BirdCast forecast to see how it did with predicting the bird movements and species arrivals. The overall pattern has been of continued decent conditions for movement through the mid-continent, but northerly winds and cooler temperatures have essentially put a cork in the migration in the eastern third of the country. As a result, there are probably a lot of passerines waiting for good conditions to move (especially Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Blue-headed Vireos, Louisiana Waterthrushes, and other species that usually arrive in early April). When the weather breaks this week (see the current BirdCast forecast) we can expect the floodgates to open. Until then, check out last week's analysis to see what migration has been happening even in the absence of great conditions. No publisher marshall.iliff 2012-05-08T18:52:10Z Feature