Millions (yes, millions) of birds may soar over KY tonight. More are on the way
Largely under the cover of darkness, an annual, natural phenomenon will fill the skies above Kentucky and other parts of the U.S. this spring: the mass migration of birds headed north for the summer.
Only for the next week or so, favorable wind and weather conditions could bring more birds soaring on the northward path than normal — to the tune of 4 to 5 million crossing over and into Ohio Thursday night, according to one projection.
In a Wednesday Facebook post, 13 Action News meteorologist Ross Ellet in Toledo, Ohio, said warm weather conditions will prompt as many as 270 million birds to take the skies nationwide Thursday night, with as many 4 to 5 million soaring northward over Kentucky, and other states, into Ohio.
“Next Monday night into Tuesday morning could be even bigger,” Ellet wrote. “The weather maps right now essentially show a fast moving interstate for migrating birds from the Gulf right over Ohio.”
It’s not unusual, the migration happens each year as many species leave their southern winter homes. But for the next few days, the weather pattern could lead to a larger influx of birds than normal.
“This certainly sounds like a large volume of birds and probably will be one of the larger ‘pulses’ of migration for the spring but such pulses, perhaps of slightly small size, are typical for spring migration,” Darin McNeil, University of Kentucky assistant professor of wildlife and ecology, told the Herald-Leader in a Thursday email. “Migration tends to come in pulses as favorable conditions wax and wane.”
This time of year, the changing day length serves as a natural signal to songbirds and other varieties, who “become increasingly restless” as the days grow longer and feel the urge to migrate north, McNeil noted.
“This migration is tough to directly observe (but not impossible) because it mostly happens at night,” McNeil wrote. “On calm spring nights (and fall too), you can go outside after dusk and listen to the contact calls (called ‘nocturnal flight calls’) produced by many species.”
Why one particular night? That’s still the subject of research, McNeil said, but the birds are attuned to favorable environmental conditions.
According to BirdCast, a migration data tracking tool from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 6.5 million birds crossed over Kentucky April 23.
“At peak last night there were 9.9 million birds in the air over Kentucky (some landed here hence the number crossing Kentucky is lower.),” Ronan O’Carra, with Central Kentucky Audubon Society, wrote in a Thursday email, noting this time of year Kentucky is coming to the peak of spring migration season.
The BirdCast forecast for April 24 shows a channel of medium- to high-intensity migration from the Gulf states up through the Midwest, with a projected 288 million birds overhead. The forecast shows that intensity in many Midwest states and Kentucky lessening the night of April 25.
While McNeil said he could not confirm the volume of birds that may pass overhead in Central Kentucky in the coming days, a number of species are partaking in the mass migration.
Those include many types of songbirds and “near-passerine” types. Among the most abundant migrating birds right now are warblers, vireos, thrushes, orioles, grosbeaks and buntings.
“I expect many of our sparrows that winter here (e.g., white-throated sparrows) may take this opportunity to head north, as many or our other winter birds (e.g., most of our dark-eyed juncos) already have,” McNeil continued.
Located along a steady migration flight path, Kentucky sees a wide variety of spring migrating birds each year.
There are several steps Kentuckians can take to protect important migratory species as they fly north each spring, O’Carra said. Those include turning off unnecessary lights, as the birds use the stars to navigate, keeping cats who may prey on landing birds inside and treating windows to prevent the reflection of shrubs and other cover that could confuse the creatures.
For those looking to appreciate the mass migration, your best bet may be to step outside just before sunrise.
“Aside from the volume anticipated with this particular pulse, this phenomenon happens every spring, right under our noses!,” McNeil wrote. “I would think that this is a great reminder of what sorts of amazing biological occurrences are happening all the time right in our own back yards.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2025 at 3:18 PM