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Massive bird migration event to take place over Pittsburgh area Monday night

PITTSBURGH — A “high intensity” bird migration event is expected to cross the Pittsburgh area Monday, with the possibility of more than 50,000 birds per square mile flying south.

According to BirdCast, a collaboration between the EPA, the National Audubon Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and other institutions, the birds will be in the sky above Pittsburgh around 7 p.m. Over Philadelphia, there could be more than 41,000 birds and over Harrisburg, there could be more than 50,000.

Predictions estimate nearly 400 million birds will be journeying south on Sunday and Tuesday nights, and nearly 500 million birds on Monday night. This is expected to be one the largest migration events of the fall. Tropical systems Sally and Paulette are also impacting bird migration patterns.

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Every fall, billions of birds migrate through the United States, mostly at night. The National Audubon Society reports the fall season is one of the peak times for birds heading south from North America to tropical regions.