Home » Plants & Animals » Tropical Birds » Migratory Adaptation

Migratory Adaptation

© Glenda Gibbons

Almost every birder I know feels the same way: they live for the end of the winter to watch the migrating birds moving through their part of the country. I'm sure that I have been cursed out by various motorists as I've slowed way down in my car to watch a hawk or heron in flight.

Today, I was pleasantly surprised by a robin and a red-wing blackbird. There is an American Kestrel living near my house that always causes my foot to hit the brake as I admire the beautiful marking and colors that make up this tiny hawk.

While researching the Central and Pacific flyways for this article, I came across some fascinating reading in regard to migratory, neotropical birds. It has always been customary for migrating species to spend time eating, sleeping, and fueling up for the remainder of their flights in a large area; a VERY large area. As you are most likely aware, the chances of finding an area this dense and unpopulated, has become nearly impossible. The migrating birds are in the process of adapting their migratory flights to include smaller, yet densely wooded areas that can yield enough food to sustain them on another smaller excursion southward.

On a profound note here, this can mean several important happenings, not just for the bird community, but for all wildlife in common. The idea that birds are doing their best to adapt to a smaller, more secluded waystation along their migratory adventures suggests what we birders have suspected all along; that there is a sense of survival and preservation within the aviary community. But most important of all, there must be a form of intelligence within the instincts of birds that trigger the decisions to adapt to certain areas along their journey.

The National Audubon Society's projects to band migratory birds have been proving extremely educational; in some cases, banded birds that were originally found in northwest Canada, and would normally fly the Pacific or Central flyway, are showing up within the customary and specific gathering boundaries of the Mississippi Flyway. An occasional finding is a curiosity in the birding world, but it has been noted that the actual traditional flight paths of many migratory and neotropical birds have been adapted en masse by the birds due to the more readily available food supply along the other routes.

As birdwatchers and bird lovers, we can help these birds by making sure that our feeders are full both night and day. Many birds are night travelers. Keep suncatchers hanging in large picture windows so that birds in flight can avoid collision.

The copyright of the article Migratory Adaptation in Tropical Birds is owned by Glenda Gibbons. Permission to republish Migratory Adaptation in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.