World Migratory Bird Day 2018

October 13 is World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD).

Today was very special day for me. I had a chance to celebrate WMBD by presenting my first birding program at Rancocas Nature Center called “The Miracle of Avian Migration“. I had a wonderful audience and we had a nice hike after the presentation. While walking through the meadow we observed Eastern Phoebes, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpeckers, Turkey Vultures, a Red-tailed Hawk, Red-winged Blackbirds, House Finches, and American Robins. Other creatures included a raccoon, an Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, a Wolf Spider with an eggs sac, and a woolly bear caterpillar (Isabella Tiger Moth). Thank you to everybody who came out to the program!

In honor of World Migratory Bird Day here are some fun facts about bird migration:

• 4,000 species (40%) of the world’s almost 10,000 bird species are migratory.
• Shorebirds are some of the most fascinating migrants. Bar-tailed Godwits from Alaska will migrate nonstop to New Zealand, a trip that is over 7,000 miles and takes about 9 days. In order to migrate such a far distance, these bird increase the size of their pectoral muscles, heart, and lungs and decrease the size of their stomach and gizzards.
• Migratory birds can sense the Earth’s magnetic field, as well as use the Sun and starts to orient them in the correct direction. A study done on captive-raised Indigo Buntings who were exposed to natural and artificial star patterns at a planetarium found that birds don’t memorize the position of the stars, but observe the rotation of the star patterns to orient their direction.
• Birds will engage in anxious behavior before they migrate, referred to as Zugunruhe, or migratory restlessness.
• There are 350 species of long-distance migrants in North America.

What migrants have you been seeing in your area? Tell us in the comments!

 

 

 

Cape May Big Day

Yesterday, October 6th, was the first October Global Big Day. For the past 4 years, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has held an annual Global Big Day event in May. 2018 is the first year that this Big Day event was also held in autumn. With spring now in the Southern Hemisphere and autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, the Lab thought it would be great time to track the migrations around the world.

Dave and I went to Cape May for our big day. We hiked around our two favorite Cape May locations: Cape May Point State Park and South Cape May Meadows.

It seemed like everyone had the same idea about going to the Point. It was packed with birders of all ages. Many people were participating in the fall Hawk Watch, which takes place daily during the migration. Located on a prime location of the Altantic Flyway, Cape May is one of the best birding areas in the country to catch a sight of migrants, whether they are hawks, warblers, or anything in between.

Cape May Point highlights:

• Tree Swallow massive flock!: We had the opportunity to observe a large flock of Tree Swallows gathering on the beach. It was amazing to watch them swirl around over the sand. Tree Swallows migrate in huge flocks that can number in the hundreds of thousands. They take about 3-4 months to migrate from their summer to their wintering grounds, leisurely stopping en route to forage, preen, and rest.  Sometimes the flocks are so large that they come up on weather radar as “roost rings”.

 

Tree Swallows in Flight (Image by BirdNation)

Tree Swallow flock rest (Image by BirdNation)

• Monarch Butterflies. It’s also migration time for the Monarch Butterfly. Cape May happens to be a fantastic place to experience their journey. We saw many as we walked the trails.

 

Monarch (Image by BirdNation)

Monarch on Goldenrod (Image by BirdNation)

• Palm Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Warblers are now migrating through the area to their wintering grounds. There were Yellow-rumped Warblers flitting through the trees, Common Yellowthroats skulking through the bushes, and Palm Warblers zooming across the path. During fall migration, warblers adopt more drab plumage as opposed to their bright spring breeding plumage. The Palm Warblers we saw were actually the Western subspecies. The Western Palms are more numerous on the Atlantic Coast during fall migration.

Palm Warbler “Western” subspecies (Image by BirdNation)

South Cape May Meadows Highlights:

• Atlantic Ghost Crab: Atlantic Ghost Crabs can be found from Block Island, Rhode Island south to Brazil along the coast. They are primarily nocturnal, so it was a surprising but wonderful sight to see one running along the trail.

Atlantic Ghost Crab (Image by BirdNation)

• Winter Waterfowl: The winter Waterfowl are already starting to arrive. We saw groups of Northern Shovelers and Gadwalls at the Meadows (as well as some Ruddy Ducks and American Wigeons at the Point).
• Common Buckeyes. We saw a few Common Buckeye butterflies fluttering around the paths.

Common Buckeye (Image by BirdNation)

Overall, we saw 31 species for our October Big Day (60 species for the May Big Day at Forsythe NWR. It’s always a joy to go birding in Cape May, especially during fall migration.

Tell us some of the migrants you’ve been seeing in your area in the comment section!