Migration of Birds (1979)Lincoln, Frederick Charles
Science
Migration of Birds (1979)
Lincoln, Frederick Charles
Birds; Birds -- Migration
Bellrose (1968) identified corridors of southward migrating waterfowl
east of the Rocky Mountains and determined, through statistical
analyses, the relative abundance of birds in each. He showed major
corridors of dabbling duck movements down the Great Plains and
Missouri-Mississippi river valleys with minor off shoots at various
points from these corridors eastward to the Atlantic coast where they
joined equally minor eastern movements from the North (Fig. 13).
Bellrose's map of migration corridors for the diving ducks showed
heavy traffic similar to that of dabbling species down the Great
Plains and relatively heavily used corridors from these central
arteries eastward across the Great Lakes area to the Atlantic coast,
terminating particularly in the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay. A fairly
well-used corridor extends along the Atlantic coast.
[Illustration: _Figure 13. Migration corridors used by dabbling
ducks east of the Rocky Mountains during their fall migration (After
Bellrose 1968)._]
[Illustration: _Figure 14. Distribution and migration of Harris'
sparrow. This is an example of a narrow migration route through the
interior of the country._]
With our present knowledge of bird migration it is difficult at
best to recognize distinct broad belts of migration down the North
American continent encompassing groups of distinct populations or
species. It seems that so much intermingling of populations occurs
that distinctions between broad "flyway" belts are not discernible.
About all we can say for sure now is that birds travel between
certain breeding areas in the North and certain wintering areas in
the South and that a few heavily traveled corridors used by certain
species, and more generalized routes followed by one or more species,
have become obvious.
Narrow Routes
Some species exhibit extremely narrow routes of travel. The red knot
and purple sandpiper, for example, are normally found only along the
coasts because they are limited on one side by the broad waters of
the ocean, and on the other by land and fresh water; neither of these
habitats furnish conditions attractive to these species.
The Ipswich race of the savannah sparrow likewise has a very
restricted migration range. It is known to breed only on tiny Sable
Island, Nova Scotia, and it winters from that island south along the
Atlantic coast to Georgia. It is rarely more than a quarter of a mile
from the outer beach and is entirely at home among the sand dunes
with their sparse covering of coarse grass.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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