One of the most celebrated symbols of spring around the world is the arrival of migratory birds. In fact, this natural phenomenon can be experienced and admired in nearly every corner of the globe. Right now, in the Western Hemisphere, billions of migratory are flocking to the Boreal Forest—or further north to the Arctic—to breed and raise their young over the warm summer months. They are arriving from locations across the U.S., Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America in such incredible numbers that it has resulted in the Boreal Forest being nicknamed “North America’s bird nursery.”
When the breeding season ends, up to 5 billion birds in total will pour out the Boreal including all of those newly fledged young—from shorebirds and songbirds to raptors and waterfowl.
But how do these birds know where to go each year?
Exactly how birds map out their migratory journeys remains a bit of a mystery. Their amazing navigational skills are not yet fully understood. Birds are known to get some directional information from the sun, the stars, and even by sensing the earth’s magnetic field. Birds may also use landmarks seen along their routes to help them find their way.
Most bird species follow certain pathways on their annual migrations. These pathways—known as flyways—are sort of like avian super highways and are often related to important stopover locations that provide food and safe resting spots critical to the birds’ survival. In the Western Hemisphere there are traditionally four main north/south flyways that migratory birds use: Atlantic, Central, Mississippi, and Pacific.
Some bird species migrate all at once, without stopping. While others make stops along the way to rest and refuel. Some fly alone and others fly in flocks. Some species migrate a relatively short distance of a few hundred miles, while others travel distances that seem almost impossible—thousands and thousands of miles. While the majority of species that migrate are birds, they are not the only animals that migrate. Whales, fish, crabs, bats, butterflies, dragonflies, bison, caribou, and quite a few others, relocate in regular annual cycles.
I recently teamed up with filmmaker Tomas Koeck on Koeck’s latest documentary called Flyway of Life. The film focuses on several amazing conservation movements along the Atlantic flyway, as well as many ecological events that occur there. The documentary will premiere in Fairfield, CT on Earth Day, April 22nd.
Learn more about the documentary here.
Find out where you can view it here.
