[CT Birds] weather tonight, and this week's migration

[Nick Bonomo]

Migration appears to have "caught up." Here's a brief summary of what
was going on with the radar these past few nights over CT and
surroundings:
Sunday night - light NW winds and a moderate migration in and out of CT
Monday night - light SW winds, moderate-to-heavy migration in and out
Tuesday night - light and variable winds, light migration in and out

So birds are no longer backed up in the northeast. The closest area of
recent "blocking weather" is in the Carolinas, where showers the past
couple nights have apparently kept some birds from passing through
there. But at least some birds appeared to trickle through the
showers.

We do have a promising weather pattern developing for tonight.
Moderate southwest winds will be blowing throughout the eastern
states, and rain showers may work into the region overnight. If we're
really lucky, lots of birds will be moving to our south and will hit
rain right over Connecticut. If this happens, we could be in for a
mini-fallout tomorrow morning wherever the rain knocks down the birds.
But this would take a good deal of luck. Another possibility is that
rain builds in to our south and blocks most birds from even reaching
CT. A third possibility is that no rain reaches the east coast by
daybreak, in which case we should see a strong movement of birds into
and out of CT.

Anytime we have southerly winds like this, there is a strong
possiblity that one of those southern overshoots will turn up in CT.
These will be the strongest SW winds we've seen so far this season.

It looks like we're going into a period of unsettled weather, with
some rain Thursday into Saturday and again late Sunday through Monday.
If the weather is crummy and winds are out of the north/east,
shorebirding could be good. Although large shorebird numbers have yet
to reach us, we're in a window where Bar-tailed and Black-tailed
Godwits are possible, and we're beginning to enter the period when
spring Curlew Sandpipers are seen in the northeast. A White-winged
Tern was recently seen in Delaware. If east winds come with the rain,
someone may get lucky and find a Red-necked Phalarope (inland or
coastally).

Nick Bonomo
Orange, CT