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Southbound or Bust!
While many animals prepare for the colder months by collecting and stashing away food, our migratory feathered friends have a rigorous travel schedule planned for the fall.
Between early July and mid-November, birds head south for the winter. It's estimated that every autumn, more than five billion birds migrate south across North America.
Why do birds migrate?
Contrary to human "snowbirds" who seek warmer climes during the winter, birds migrate not so much to find warmer temperatures, but rather to exploit optimal food sources in other regions.
For example, in early summer, many Arctic-nesting shorebirds feed on the larvae of water-born insects, but by late summer and fall this food source is diminished.
Over time, shorebirds have adapted to travel great distances each fall to harvest plentiful food sources in Central and South America.
"During migration seasons, birds attempt to maximize their feeding capabilities," explains Wayne Petersen, director of Mass Audubon's Important Bird Areas Program. "For example, many shorebirds visit 'super sites' during migration-places where there is a superabundance of food that will minimize the energy needed by the shorebirds to obtain it."
With shorebirds, different age classes typically migrate at different times, with the adult birds usually migrating several weeks ahead of the juveniles. This is one possible strategy for reducing competition for food, both on the Arctic tundra and also at migratory stopover sites.
Both adult and immature songbirds, like flycatchers, vireos, and warblers, depart at the same time, usually beginning their migration by the third week of August and reaching a peak in mid September.
Unlike songbirds, migrating hawks travel by day, soaring high and relying on rising warm air currents called thermals to carry them to their winter destinations. On favorable days in September and early October, you might witness hundreds of hawks while visiting strategically located hilltops in central and western Massachusetts.
Most waterfowl and many seed-eating songbirds, such as sparrows and finches, move later in the season. And some do not even appear until October or November!
And although many birds migrate through Massachusetts, others settle here for the winter. "Different species migrate on different schedules," explains Simon Perkins, Mass Audubon field ornithologist. "For example some southbound shorebirds return to Massachusetts from their arctic-tundra breeding grounds as early as the beginning of July, while a few species of ducks don't return to the state until November."
Best places to see migrating birds?
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Black and White Warbler
Photo by George Mclean |
Coastal locations are often attractive for migrants in the fall, especially headlands or peninsulas where there are thickets that provide food and shelter. Mass Audubon's Marblehead Neck Sanctuary and Nahant Thicket Wildlife Sanctuary are good examples of these types of habitats in Essex County on Massachusetts' North Shore.
Shorebirds concentrate in estuaries and tidal areas where invertebrates are abundant in the mud. Newburyport Harbor, the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island, and Plymouth Beach on the South Shore are ideal shorebird viewing areas.
Inland, many migrating songbirds tend to follow river corridors, such as the Connecticut River Valley, where there are lots of bordering trees and plenty of insects to eat.
Outstanding inland localities for hawk watching include Mass Audubon's Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary and nearby Wachusett Mountain in Princeton, as well as Mount Tom in Holyoke in the Connecticut River Valley.
Under proper conditions in mid-September you might see migrating hawks, including ospreys, broad-winged hawks, and American kestrels at these locations. By late September and October, these same venues regularly host sharp-shinned, red-tailed, and red-shouldered hawks.
Why not get outside and experience firsthand this annual autumnal pageantry in the sky?
Check out some of the 79 Important Bird Areas around the state. You can download a map for each IBA at www.massaudubon.org/iba
Or, if you enjoy the company of others, consider participating in a Mass Audubon program at one of the sanctuaries listed below.
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