COBirders, There have been plenty of birds around, and it looks like the gates are about to open for the next few days. Starting on Saturday night, the winds are going to turn around to south overall.
On the maps below, the green circle is Longmont, CO. The green circle is only for reference in the following loops. Also use the rivers on the map to help you orient. The Rio Grande, Colorado, and Arkansas rivers are all shown on the map. And the latitude and longitude lines are also present. Fun fact: The 40˚N parallel/line goes straight down Baseline Road in Boulder <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseline_Road_(Colorado)#:~:text=Origin%20of%20the%20name,-On%20May%2030&text=The%2040th%20parallel%20became%20the,cut%20along%20the%20survey%20baseline.> if that helps anyone. The beginning of south winds, but not yet connected to the Gulf (4/22 10pm): https://earth.nullschool.net/#2023/04/23/0400Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-104.17,38.81,2474/loc=-105.120,40.191 The connection to the Gulf of Mexico/Veracruz happens (4/23 10pm): https://earth.nullschool.net/#2023/04/24/0400Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-104.17,38.81,2474/loc=-105.120,40.191 The connection continues and the convergence gets better (4/24 10pm): https://earth.nullschool.net/#2023/04/25/0400Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-104.17,38.81,2474/loc=-105.120,40.191 The connection is STILL there (4/25 10pm): https://earth.nullschool.net/#2023/04/26/0400Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-104.17,38.81,2474/loc=-105.120,40.191 *Overall predictions:* So what does this all mean? It looks like we will see a lot of migrant turnover in the next few days. If you were waiting for that good push of migrants, it is coming. If you were waiting for a major fallout, this isn't likely at large scales. Maybe in some smaller areas with great food sources or heavy precipitation at just the right time, you will get little fallouts, but I am expecting broad scale migration from TX and the Gulf Coast. Expect the flavor of birds to be more eastern as we are connecting to Veracruz and the Gulf of Mexico and then later further east. This should give us a distinctly more "eastern" flavor unlike the last storm system that was much more southwestern flavor (Black-throated Sparrow, Harris's Hawk, Common Black Hawk and likely others). So get your hummingbird feeders out if they aren't already up, keep your ears peeled for Sandhill Cranes (Common Crane anyone?), shorebirds a plenty, and an increase in birds across the board. *Local predictions:* Pueblo to La Junta could be the biggest winner in terms of concentrations. On the 24th and 25th, there is an area of greater convergence around the Arkansas river next to the mountains (pretty much Pueblo) stretching out to Ja Junta that should increase concentrations and that stays relatively consistent with time. So expect birds to show up and stay for at least a couple days in the area. In other areas of the Front Range, there will definitely be migrants, but no specific areas of higher concentrations due to meteorological features. Yet, find the food source, find the birds (Thanks Dave Leatherman for the reminders), so concentrations may be high based on food sources (swallows at lakes, phalaropes on lakes, warblers in hedgerows). With non-Arkansas river valley eastern portions of the state, expect birds to be one-day wonders, so get out and get them if you hear about something rare you want to see. Or keep your eyes on your feeders starting Sunday and well into Tuesday. The birds are coming! Please help keep me honest by posting your sightings, positive or negative. All data is good data. And thank your local forecaster even if the migration forecast is wrong. He appreciates it every time. Hope you enjoy the days to come as they will contain the push of migrants we always wait for. 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/CAENnWHuQHX3mQE_QqaWTCvwhZ6GQjjEL947C3O-zgfuxmi-HMg%40mail.gmail.com.
