Migration of Birds (1979)Lincoln, Frederick Charles
Science
Migration of Birds (1979)
Lincoln, Frederick Charles
Birds; Birds -- Migration
During spring migration, weather conditions conducive to strong
movements of birds are somewhat the opposite from those in the fall.
Migrants will move north on the warm sector of an incoming low.
When a high pressure area has just passed, the influx of warm moist
tropical air is extended and intensified (Bagg et al. 1950). However,
during this time, cloudiness and rain associated with the low may
curtail migration or squeeze it into a narrow period proceeding along
the warm front. If a fast moving cold front approaches from the
northwest, the rapid movement of migrants will be sharply curtailed
or even grounded until more favorable conditions occur.
The incessant crescendo note of the ovenbird is ordinarily associated
with the full verdure of May woods, but this bird has been known
to reach its breeding grounds in a snowstorm, and the records of
its arrival in southern Minnesota show a temperature variation
from near freezing to full summer warmth. Temperatures at arrival
of several other common birds vary from 14° between highest and
lowest temperatures to 37°, the average variation being about 24°.
North American species spending the winter months in tropical
latitudes experience no marked changes in temperature conditions
from November to March or April, yet frequently they will start the
northward movement in January or February. This is in obedience
to physiological promptings and has no relation to the prevailing
weather conditions. For migratory birds the winter season is a
period of rest, a time when they have no cares other than those
associated with the daily search for food or escape from their
natural enemies. Their migrations, however, are a vital part of their
life cycles, which have become so well adjusted that the seasons
of travel correspond in general with the major seasonal changes on
their breeding grounds. With the approach of spring, therefore,
the reproductive impulse awakens, and each individual bird is
irresistibly impelled to start the journey that ends in its summer
home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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