Bird Sightings: September–October 2017

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Weather

September and October are exciting months for birders, and the weather during this period was near perfect. September temperatures averaged 67 degrees in Boston, two degrees above average, although temperatures away from the coast were much warmer. The high mark for September was 88 degrees on September 5, and the low was 52 degrees on the last day of the month. Rainfall measured 3.73 inches, only 0.3 inches above the average for Boston. The most in any 24-hour period was 1.55 inches on September 30. By September 22, Hurricane Jose was downgraded to a tropical storm, even though a wind advisory and a prediction of heavy rain were issued for Cape Cod and the Islands. Lucky birders at Race Point in Provincetown during that period recorded an array of unusual birds.

October 2017 was the second warmest October on record. The official average in Boston was 61.4 degrees, seven degrees above the average, and only 0.1 degrees below the record set in 1947. The high was 80 degrees on October 5, and the low was 40 degrees on October 17. Rainfall was 4.14 inches, just about average for the month, with much of it (1.71 inches) falling from the night of Tuesday, October 24, through the morning of Thursday, October 26, and causing flash flood alerts for most of eastern Massachusetts.

R. Stymeist

Figure 1. Weather and reverse migration, October 2017. Average wind speed (dotted lines) and wind gusts (solid bars) for Logan Airport (weather station KBOS) are shown for each nocturnal flight (6 pm through 6 am). Average wind direction for the period is shown below together with arrivals of potential "southern" reverse migrants. Data from www.eBird.org and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

February 2018

Bird Sightings: September–October 2017

Weather