16 Facts About Bird migration

Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds.

Timing of Bird migration seems to be controlled primarily by changes in day length.

Bird migration movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat, or weather.

Primary motivation for migration appears to be food; for example, some hummingbirds choose not to migrate if fed through the winter.

Nocturnal migration can be monitored using weather radar data, allowing ornithologists to estimate the number of birds migrating on a given night, and the direction of the migration.

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Typical image of migration is of northern land birds, such as swallows and birds of prey, making long flights to the tropics.

Some species of waders, Bird migration success depends on the availability of certain key food resources at stopover points along the Bird migration route.

Seabird migration is similar in pattern to those of the waders and waterfowl.

Altitudinal Bird migration is common on mountains worldwide, such as in the Himalayas and the Andes.

Bird migration is primarily, but not entirely, a Northern Hemisphere phenomenon.

Apart from physiological adaptations, Bird migration sometimes requires behavioral changes such as flying in flocks to reduce the energy used in Bird migration or the risk of predation.

Early studies on the timing of Bird migration began in 1749 in Finland, with Johannes Leche of Turku collecting the dates of arrivals of spring migrants.

Bird migration routes have been studied by a variety of techniques including the oldest, marking.

An approach to identify Bird migration intensity makes use of upward pointing microphones to record the nocturnal contact calls of flocks flying overhead.

An older technique developed by George Lowery and others to quantify migration involves observing the face of the full moon with a telescope and counting the silhouettes of flocks of birds as they fly at night.

The distances involved in bird migration mean that they often cross political boundaries of countries and conservation measures require international cooperation.