A significant migration of songbirds and other bird species is predicted for Minnesota tonight, Thursday, Sept. 3, by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
The lab calls this a high-intensity migration, hundreds of thousands to millions of birds depending on location. The map for the Twin Cities and Minnesota indicates high traffic.
The prediction for the eastern half of the country is movement of 200 million individuals. The current wind from the northwest should attract migrants, giving them a boost as they move south.
Assuming birds come to land as morning approaches, and many will to feed and rest, Friday could be a big birding day.
The alert arrived this morning via email from a Cornell service called BirdCast. The site from which notice is sent is Blogtrottr. It is a free subscription service offered in conjunction with Cornell's ebird local notification service.
For more information go to birdcast.info. For subscription information go to blogtrottr.com
Blogtrottr also reports that purple finches are moving south out of Canada, and could be feeder visitors in Minnesota this winter. Purple finches are not regular here in any season.
