COBirders, This morning, the cloud cover is relatively low, and I am sitting out on the patio right at sun-up to see if there are any birds calling while they are passing by. No luck so far, but the winds aren't great for migration yet. The day is young though. Right now, the pattern looks like this: https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/09/02/1200Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-108.61,45.45,2061/loc=-105.120,40.191 (green circle is Longmont, CO)
*NOTE: feel free to move the green circle to your location by adding your latitude and longitude to the URL. After the "loc=", remove my longitude and latitude, add your longitude and latitude into that space making sure negative longitudes are "west". Boulder, CO is right around 105W longitude which converts to -105. Baseline Rd (named that for a reason) in Boulder is 40˚N which just converts to 40. "loc=-105,40" will then be centered right near Boulder.* I have north winds overhead (but not at the surface), but the gates aren't opened for migration yet today. Migrants are likely only short-range, if that. Let's fast-forward to later: 9am https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/09/02/1500Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-108.61,45.45,2061/loc=-105.120,40.191 There is now a better connection to the large-scale northerly flow from Canada and the big cut-off low-pressure system up north (big spinning circle of streamlines). Move forward in time a bit more: 6pm https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/09/03/0000Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-108.61,45.45,2061/loc=-105.120,40.191 The connection is now more obvious and the flow of migrants should be quite possible. This is why Birdcast <https://birdcast.info/>/Aeroecolab <https://aeroecolab.com/uslights> forecasts are starting to light up with migrants as Diana Beatty pointed us to on CFO's Facebook page yesterday. As the frontal passage continues to move on to the east (KS, NE, SD, MN), our winds end up n some nice concentrating patterns. Map from 6am on the 3rd: https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/09/03/1200Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-108.61,45.45,2061/loc=-105.120,40.191 The big winners (in CO) seem to be in southeastern CO. My initial click around the map pinpointing the location I was forecasting highest concentrations was just south of John Martin Reservoir. So Lamar, John Martin Reservoir, and environs around that should be in for a good push and concentrations of migrants. As Mark Peterson pointed out the other day with his Hale Crossroads observations, concentrations can happen along these northerly wind patterns where there is good habitat (even in small pockets), so if you are below the concentrating northerly winds get out for a quick look around that may turn into a long look around and some good migrants from Canada or anywhere along the path those winds took to get here. Best of luck out there. May the birds concentrate in your area one day. Bryan Bryan Guarente Meteorologist/Instructional Designer UCAR/The COMET Program Boulder, CO -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAENnWHs2-exNHPQZP8w8Lt6Dp0NytvHaXF57wUy_r%3DT3MsaG7w%40mail.gmail.com.
