Migration of Birds (1979)Lincoln, Frederick Charles
Science
Migration of Birds (1979)
Lincoln, Frederick Charles
Birds; Birds -- Migration
The American robin has been mentioned as a slow migrant, and, as a
species, it takes 78 days to make the 3,000-mile trip from Iowa to
Alaska, a stretch of country that is crossed by advancing spring in
68 days. In this case, however, it does not necessarily mean that
individual robins are slow. The northward movement of the species
probably depends upon the continual advance of birds from the rear,
so that the first individuals arriving in a suitable locality are
the ones that nest in that area, while the northward movement of the
species is continued by those still to come.
There is great variation in the speed of migration at different
latitudes of the broad region between the Gulf of Mexico and the
Arctic Ocean. The blackpoll warbler again furnishes an excellent
example (Fig. 3). This species winters in northwestern South
America and starts to migrate north in April. When the birds reach
the southern United States, some individuals fly northwest to the
Mississippi Valley, north to Manitoba, northwest to the Mackenzie
River, and then almost due west to western Alaska. A fairly uniform
average distance of 30 to 35 miles per day is maintained from the
Gulf to Minnesota, but a week later this species has reached the
central part of the Mackenzie Valley, and by the following week it
is observed in northwestern Alaska. During the latter part of the
journey, therefore, many individuals must average more than 200 miles
per day. Thirty days are spent traveling from Florida to southern
Minnesota, a distance of about 1,000 miles, but scarcely half that
time is used to cover the remaining 2,500 miles to Alaska. Increased
speed across western Canada to Alaska is also shown by many other
birds (Figs. 2, 4, 6). A study of all species traveling up the
Mississippi Valley indicates an average speed of about 23 miles
per day. From southern Minnesota to southern Manitoba 16 species
maintain an average speed of about 40 miles per day. From that point
to Lake Athabaska, 12 species travel at an average speed of 72 miles
per day, while 5 others travel to Great Slave Lake at 116 miles per
day, and another 5 species cover 150 miles per day to reach Alaska.
This change is in correlation with a corresponding variation in the
isothermal lines, which turn northwestward west of the Great Lakes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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