There was a female visiting a suet feeder on the deck today. I have not seen or heard one in the ‘hood this winter, so I presume it is a migrant. I do not maintain any special feeders for them like I did when I lived in Tallahassee.
March 09-10
March 10, 2007Finally some migration. A few birds headed out of Cuba tonight, where winds are easterly. At 05:00 UTC some birds have made it about half way across the Straits (see above linked image). This archived image will roll-off in four days.
Predicting Migration
March 8, 2007The best way to get a handle on upcoming migration events from Cuba is to examine the weather models at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). There are two major models: ETA and GFS (don’t ask me what these acronyms stand for). The ETA model extends out for 84 hours and the GFS for 180 hours. The output from both models can be accessed from the NCAR web site…
ETA - http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/model/index.php?model=eta
GFS - http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/model/index.php?model=gfs
In both models the most relevant information for migration is MSLP/Winds. Select the check box for this and the box for “loop all times” to view future predictions. Other weather variables are selectable. The nature of these are fairly transparent.
March 07-08
March 8, 2007There seems to be a just barely detectable movement of birds from Cuba tonight. Not enough to bother posting a radar image.
March 06-07
March 7, 2007Nothing happening tonight out of Cuba detectable by radar, just a bunch of chaff trails from military aircraft. Weather models indicate no conditions conducive to migration for the next week.
Parula!
March 5, 2007Zeeeep-up in the yard! In no time it will be possible to develop a sweat just by sitting on the deck!
March 04-05
March 5, 2007Winds in Havana are northerly and in the 10-15 MPH range. Nuthin’ happening with migrants. Adverse conditions may persist through most of the next week! Ouch!
March 03-04
March 4, 2007Very little, if anything, coming across the Straits of Florida tonight, not even worth the bandwidth for a radar image. Here in NE Florida we barely reached a high temp over 60F. Still no parula, just a recently shaved spaniel, shivering and seemingly attached to my stomach when I woke up.
