A depressingly cold and snowy spring day had me gazing out the window wondering how all those early migrants might be surviving. My feeders weren't very busy today and I suspect lots of birds were just hunkered down trying to stay out of the wind.

Below is a picture of tonight's weather map and you can see how a strong cold front can just shut down any movement of migrants. The only place showing some movement is in the Ohio River Valley. You can see rain along the leading edge of the cold front and there are no "green donuts" indicating birds behind or to the north of that line. Minnesota and Wisconsin took the brunt of the cold and brutally windy weather Friday night and Saturday. Some places in Minnesota received 6"-12" of new snow.


It doesn't look like we'll have a strong movement of birds for the next couple of days until the high pressure system moves in and the winds change direction. Until then I'm going to try and get out to see what early movers are still around. Keep those feeders full!