Something in the Air: Books on Bird Migration They wander the world, sleep on the wing and perform astonishing feats of endurance.

WSJ ^ | 19 Mar 2021 | Julie Zickefoose

[DUMBGRUNT]

They wander the world, sleep on the wing and perform astonishing feats of endurance.

We humans had until recently become inured to losing track of breeding birds for the duration of their migratory journeys, which we now know can span tens of thousands of miles. When a white stork turned up in Klütz, Germany, in the spring of 1822 with an arrow from Africa dangling from its neck, an awakening began that migratory birds are up to something much bigger than suspected.

Solar-powered transmitters using cellular networks can now record a bird’s latitude, longitude and altitude at 30-second intervals.

In 2004, a tracking device revealed that a gray-headed albatross maintained an average flight speed of 78.9 mph for eight hours as it soared, rigid-winged, homeward on the wind with a gullet full of food for its chick. Trackers have revealed common swifts never touching earth—sleeping on the wing—for a documented 10-month period.

...prothonotary warblers, tracked from across their wide range in the U.S., almost all converge on one small area along Colombia’s Magdalena River for the winter. If that forest is logged, what becomes of the birds?

[Mean Daddy]

I’ve seen flocks of crows incessantly harass an owl for hours (up in my deer stand). They make quite a racket.

[Karoo]

It is an amazing, wondrous world we live in!

I thank God every day.

[Nailbiter]

Flr

[doorgunner69]

Remember after the first season living on Oahu and seeing this one little sandpiper on our lawn each year. Someone told me they migrated, and though “no way that little guy crosses the ocean”

But every year, he or another would show up............

[DUMBGRUNT]

—” Someone told me they migrated, and though “no way that little guy crosses the ocean”

And they are taking the over ocean direct shortcut from Alaska/Siberia!
Some continue on to Fiji and New Zealand.

Many more take the overland Russia- China- Malaysia route to Australia and New Zealand.

https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/7218/the-east-asian-australasian-flyway

I had to look it up and enjoyed reading about their migration.

Thanks