After a promising first look before the official season start, the last few days have been underwhelming. A combination of 100% cloud cover and West wind made the migrants die down a little. This past weekend brought snow which halted or obscured any migrating birds.
Today however, the sun showed its face, the wind was from the Southeast, and we had no snow! It would have been an average day, with a few raptors flying through per hour, until the last few hours of the day. After a little extra sunshine and an increase in wind, the birds kept coming one right after another, totaling 42 raptors for that hour alone. It died down as quickly as it started, but it goes to show just how much migration is dependent on the weather.
