Long Distance Travelers

Birds migrate along flyways much as people travel on interstate highways, reaching major routes from various starting points and continuing to different destinations. Migration timing is shaped by several factors: hormones released at the same time each year trigger intense feeding, and birds quickly convert food into fat for the journey; leaving too early can cause them to run out of energy before finishing the trip. Shorter days, weather, and shortages of food also help trigger migration. Instead of roadmaps, birds rely on landmarks, instinct, parental guidance, and the positions of the sun and stars. Migratory birds face dangers during these long journeys, including pesticides that can accumulate in animals eaten by raptors and lead to death, loss of resting and refueling habitat through development, and collisions with tall buildings, communication towers, and windmills in newly developed areas along migration routes. Their chances of completing the journey improve when pesticides are reduced, habitat such as native gardens, nesting and roosting trees, ponds, feeders, and water is provided, nesting and roosting sites are not disturbed, and towers are placed outside migratory corridors.

Maryland · United States