Migration of Birds (1979)Lincoln, Frederick Charles
Science
Migration of Birds (1979)
Lincoln, Frederick Charles
Birds; Birds -- Migration
Another example of this "leap-frog" migration is illustrated by the
common yellowthroat of the Atlantic coast. Birds occupying the most
southern part of the general range are almost nonmigratory and reside
throughout the year in Florida, whereas the population that breeds
as far north as Newfoundland goes to the West Indies for the winter.
Thus the northern population literally "jumps" over the home of the
southern relatives during migratory journeys.
The palm warbler breeds from Nova Scotia and Maine west and northwest
to southern Mackenzie. The species has been separated into two
subspecies: those breeding in the interior of Canada and those
breeding in northeastern United States and Canada. The northwestern
subspecies makes a 3,000-mile journey from Great Slave Lake to Cuba
and passes through the Gulf States early in October. After the bulk
of these birds have passed, the eastern subspecies, whose migratory
journey is about half as long, drifts slowly into the Gulf Coast
region and remains for the winter.
Fall Flights Not Far South of Breeding Range
Some species have extensive summer ranges (e.g., the pine warbler,
rock wren, field sparrow, loggerhead shrike, and black-headed
grosbeak) and concentrate during the winter season in the southern
part of the breeding range or occupy additional territory only a
short distance farther south. The entire species may thus be confined
within a restricted area during winter, but with the return of warmer
weather, the species spreads out to reoccupy the much larger summer
range.
[Illustration: _Figure 10. Migration of Pacific coast forms of the
fox sparrow. The breeding ranges of the different races are encircled
by solid lines, while the winter ranges are dotted. The numbers
indicate the areas used by the different subspecies as follows: L
Shumagin fox sparrow; 2. Kodiak fox sparrow; 3. Valdez fox sparrow;
4. Yakutat fox sparrow; 5. Townsend fox sparrow; 6. sooty fox sparrow
(After Swarth 1920)._]
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