Feather Fun Facts

Bird Migrations

Swan, Acrylic on Paper | Alison Melavalin, Craigville Painters

The question of where our feathered friends go in the winter is riddled with incorrect theories to explain their disappearance. 

Songbirds fatten up for migration, sometimes literally doubling their weight in order to guarantee maximum energy for their journey. Some birds grow fresh new feathers, less colorful than their summer plumage, which assures they are less conspicuous to predators. Songbirds do their migrating at night, when there is less chance that a hungry hawk or falcon will spot them in flight. 

The 3.1 inch Rufous Hummingbird flies 3,900 miles from Alaska to Mexico, which means its commute is 78.5 million times its body length (allaboutbirds.org/guide/rufous_hummingbird/ overview). This bird can fly 1,245 miles without a break, and may take a straight line across the Gulf of Mexico. The champions of the migratory birds are the Arctic Terns, for they nest in the Arctic for the Northern summer, then fly to the Antarctic latitudes for a second, Southern summer. This bird is the real winner, for in its 30 year lifetime it can make the equivalent of three round trips to the moon (https:// www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Arctic_Tern/overview). 

Many migrating birds also fly higher. Some songbirds have been tracked at altitudes of 2,000 feet while some geese and raptors obtain altitudes of over 30,000 feet. Even birds in captivity retain their migratory instincts, for they stay on the side of the cage which matches the direction they should be flying. Instead of migration, a temporary relocation called an “irruption” can happen when there is lack of food supply, and the new visitors may then stay permanently if the food disruption continues.