Emily Dickinson

•Migration is a strategy to take

Why do advantage of seasonally
birds abundant food supplies
migrate? •Weather and photo-period are
triggers
DEC
NOV JAN

OCT FEB

SEP MAR

AUG APR

MAY

SNOW BUNTING
 MIGRATION STRATEGIES

Complete
Migration
Cerulean Wilson’s Stilt
warbler plover sandpiper

•All individuals leave the breeding area

after raising their families
•Most complete migrants breed in
temperate northern climates
•Many complete migrants travel
incredible distances between breeding
and
non-breeding habitats
 MIGRATION STRATEGIES

Partial
Migration
Red-tailed Herring gull Bewick’s
hawk wren

•Seasonal movement by some, but

not all, individuals away from
breeding area
•Some overlap of breeding & non-
breeding ranges
 MIGRATION STRATEGIES

Irruptive
Migration
Pine siskin Red-breasted
nuthatch

•Not seasonally or geographically

predictable
•Distances and number of migrants are
unpredictable
•Food specialists leave the boreal
forests for more southerly ranges
when food
isn’t available
 BANDING
How do US Fish and Wildlife Service
we study Bird
Banding Laboratory
migration RADAR (NOAA)
? Several years ago,
researchers at Cape May
counted 14 million birds in
one night
RADIO TELEMETRY
Carl Safina followed a single
radio-tagged albatross
throughout its range
MOON WATCHING
Requires a full moon, a
comfortable
chair and binoculars
How do CHRISTMAS BIRD
we study COUNT
migration 60000

? 52,47
52,471
1
50000

42,868

40000

32,322

30000

20000
15,000

10000 8,094
4,615
2,100
27 192 358 679
0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Number of participants 1900-2000

 THE BASICS OF FLIGHT

• A fused sternum with a “keel”

Anatomy provides
the attachment points for the
of Flight flight
muscles.
 THE BASICS OF FLIGHT

• Flight feathers are asymmetrical to

allow
A flap is them to change shape during flight
a flap • A wing must allow air to pass through
it
on the up-stroke
 DEALING WITH DRAG

•Lower air pressure above and higher

Lift & pressure beneath wing creates lift
dealing •During flight, air currents coming off
with drag the trailing edge of the wing create
eddies which cause drag

Eddy = DRAG

Airflow Wing cross-

section
Higher Pressure

LIFT
 DEALING WITH DRAG

One way to reduce the drag

Wing caused
by these eddies is to break them
slotting up
into smaller eddies.

Primary
feathers
create smaller
eddies = less
drag
 DEALING WITH DRAG

Flying very close (within a wing

length) to
Ground a body of water allows the rippled
effects surface to absorb the air currents
coming off the trailing edge of the
wing, reducing drag.
 THE BASICS OF FLIGHT

•Characterized by continuous flapping

•Results in a level course through the
Powered air
•Examples: sandpipers, ducks, geese,
rails and hummingbirds
 THE BASICS OF FLIGHT

•Birds flap in short bursts to gain altitude,

and then descend with wings folded against
the body
Bounding •Bounding flight results in constant climbing
and descending
•Examples: warblers, vireos, small
woodpeckers, orioles, robins and tanagers
 THE BASICS OF FLIGHT

•Partially powered gliding birds alternate between

Partially flapping their wings and holding them extended
•Small hawks use flapping to fly between
powered thermals
gliding •Examples: cranes, swallows, swifts, pelicans, and
shearwaters
 THE BASICS OF FLIGHT

Gliding birds keep their wings

extended
and ride rising currents of warm air to
Gliding stay aloft. They flap only to regain
altitude.

SAILPLANE
60:1
ALBATROSS
20:1
HAWK 10 to
13:1
MONARCH BUTTERFLY 3:1

Ratio measures horizontal distance to vertical drop

 •Birds navigate by: visual landmarks, the sun,
moon, stars, and routes learned from other
birds
Route •Birds also have an internal compass which is
finding sensitive to the Earth’s magnetic field
•Migrating birds will maintain a true compass
heading
STARS

MAGNETIC
NORTH

MOON
SUNRISE

WINDS
LANDSCAPE
FEATURES UV LIGHT
WEATHER

SMELLS
SOUND
 Birds usually select the most
How fast? efficient flight speeds.
0 10 20 30 40 50 mph
COMMON LOON 28-50
OSPREY 32-46
BROAD-WINGED HAWK 30-44
GOLDEN PLOVER 28-40
SEMI-PALMATED PLOVER 22-32
BALTIMORE ORIOLE 22-30
BLACKPOLL
WARBLER 15-23
 •Migrants using powered flight regularly
cross stretches of open water like the Gulf
of Mexico (500 miles)
How long? •Others flap continuously for as long as 70
hours
•Examples: Ruby-throated hummingbird,
Wood thrush and Blackpoll warbler
 NORTH AMERICAN MIGRATION FLYWAYS

How far?

Atlantic Flyways Central Flyways

Mississippi Flyways Pacific Flyways
How far?

7,000 miles
one way

Red Knot
Flies from Argentina
to Brazil, to the
Delaware Bay,
to the Arctic.
How far?

2,500 to
Blackpoll warbler 5,000 miles
Winter in South
America, and fly one way
to the Caribbean,
and then to northern
breeding grounds.
How far?

Some fly across

the Gulf of
Mexico. (500
miles nonstop)

Hummingbirds
Winter in Central
America and fly as
far north as Canada.
How far?

7,000 miles
one way

Blue-winged Teal
Winters in South
America, and breeds
in northern plains
 DAY OR NIGHT?

•Most birds which rely on gliding or flap

& glide flight are diurnal migrants
Diurnal
•The chief benefit of daytime flight is
migrants thermals – rising currents of warm air
that provide lift
 DAY OR NIGHT?

•Many birds which use powered flight

are nocturnal migrants. Why…?
Nocturnal •Night flying helps birds avoid
migrants predators
•Other benefits include calmer, more
stable air
Fat is the •Fat is the most important fuel for
currency migration
of •Many species double their weight
migration with fat fuel for migration

Typical Body Fat: PRE-MIGRATION

Shorebird Songbird Hawk
66% 70% 15%
Fat is the
currency RED KNOT BODY FAT
of 3%
migration 66%

PRE-MIGRATION POST-MIGRATION
(Brazil) (Delaware Bay)
 When a Red Knot arrives at the Delaware
Re-fueling Bay,
stations in two weeks it must increase its body
weight
are by 60% to complete the trip to its arctic
feeding grounds. The additional weight
critical must be in the form of fat…

A 175 lb man who

wants to gain 105 lbs
(60%) in two weeks
would have to eat 46
Big Macs per day for
14 days…

…and turn it
all into fat!
Birds rely Stopover places provide abundant food
on the for re-fueling needed by shorebirds to
complete migration, as well as roosting
same places.
re-fueling Gray’s Harbor,
James Bay,
Canada
Bay of
Fundy, ME

stations WA

Platte River, Delaware

NE Bay, MD
San Francisco
Cheyenne
CA
Bottoms,
KS

Copper River
Delta, AK
 The biggest threat to migration is habitat l
•Loss of non-breeding ranges due to agriculture
Threats to and seaside development
migration •The destruction of the tropical and boreal
forests
•Habitat fragmentation
Everything
in the
world •Migratory routes are the invisible lines of
connection which show us how people,
is places, and wildlife depend on each other
connected •Migration tells us about our physical
to and spiritual health
everything
else
 Ornithology
Sources & Frank B. Gill, W.H. Freeman & Co, 1995
further The Random House Atlas of Bird
Migration
reading Jonathan Elphick, ed., Random House, 1995
The Flight of the Red Knot
Brian Harrington, W.W. Norton & Company,
1996
How Birds Migrate
Paul Kerlinger, Stackpole Books, 1995
The Audubon Encyclopedia
of North American Birds
John K. Terres, Alfred A. Knopf, 1982
Living on the Wind
Scott Weidensaul, North Point Press, 1999
Connecting People with
Nature