Western NY Nocturnal Bird Migration Study
Conditions look good for a big coastal flight tonight (Apr 28-29) after midnight
A dry cold front is forecast to enter the northern region of western NY tonight by 2am. Winds will shift from out of the southwest to northerly across western Lake Ontario and shut down cross-lake migration. Winds will have been out of the southwest and favorable for migration across western NY and western Lake Ontario…
Suggestion of westbound coastal aggregation on the evening of April 27
Not a big flight, but coastal transect stations clearly show an unusual pattern of more warbler & sparrow calling in the west. See here for link to station locations and comparative calling data from other nights. Wind direction and speed charts from Weather Underground for April 27. Wind direction was nearly straight from the east…
Outlook for the night of 27-28 April
No precipitation forecast for the transect region with winds starting out moderate from the southeast and gradually shifting to nearly south by sunrise. This will be the first broad-scale southeasterly wind night for the spring 2026 acoustic monitoring transect. Do coastal aggregations of night migrants in this region ever go westward?
A blog by Bill Evans on the search for Lake Ontario coastal "megaflights" in Spring 2026
Lake Ontario Megaflights