It’s one of the most astounding phenomena on earth. Every year in spring and fall, billions of birds worldwide are on the move to their seasonal homes. Everyone’s heard a fact or two about migration, but specific details about these major movements aren’t as well known. Here’s a primer on how these feathered travelers make their journeys.
Where do they go, and when?
Not all birds are great travelers; some stay home. A downy woodpecker or a chickadee might spend its whole life close to where it hatched. Others do move, but only short distances. For example, certain kinds of grouse migrate by walking, putting only 10 or 12 miles between their summer and winter territories.
Birds of a feather don’t always flock together when it comes to migration. Some American robins fly from Canada to Florida in fall, but others in mild climates stay in the same place all year. An individual robin might even go south one year but remain up north the next.
On the other hand, some species make astonishing journeys every year. American golden-plovers travel from the tundras of northern Canada and Alaska to southern South America in fall. Arctic terns fly even farther, moving from the cold, northernmost Canadian islands or the north side of Greenland all the way to the edge of the Antarctic. They log some serious mileage—their yearly round trip can total more than 25,000 miles.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October/November 2019 من Birds & Blooms.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October/November 2019 من Birds & Blooms.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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Even if you haven't heard of Canada jays, you've heard of their relatives. Members of the corvid family, they belong to the same group as American crows, blackbilled magpies, and jays including blue, Steller's and scrub. "Unlike many of the other jays, a Canada jay doesn't have a crest of any kind; it just has a rounded head," says Dale Gentry, director of conservation for Audubon Upper Mississippi River.In 2018, the Canada jay's name was changed from gray jay, but Dale thinks the former adjective was fitting. "Most of its body is shades of gray with some white," he says. "There are different subspecies that have different physical traits, but most of them have some lighter coloring on their foreheads, upper breasts and throats, each with a darker streak that starts at each eye and goes back."
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