Billions of birds migrate to warmer climates for the winter. In many ways, this phenomenon remains a mystery to science – reports the Presa Rivne portal.
- Bird migration for the winter remains a mystery to science, but it is known that swallows, nightingales, cranes, storks, flamingos and pelicans make long flights to warmer climates.
- Birds cover enormous distances: swallows fly up to 10 thousand km, storks can be on the road for up to 2 months, and flamingos cover up to 600 km per night.
- According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), over the past 30 years, the number of migratory birds has halved due to the destruction of ecosystems and poaching.
Swallows
Swallows and nightingales are the most famous songbirds from the order of passerines. They fly away from their nesting sites earlier than anyone else, in August–September, because insects, their food supply, disappear.
Swallows live almost throughout the entire territory of Eurasia and North America. They make the longest flights, covering distances of up to 10 thousand km. It takes swallows from 5-6 weeks to 2-3 months to fly. They fly in large flocks during daylight hours at speeds of up to 60 km/h.
Swallows from the western population in Europe migrate to Africa south of the Sahara or to tropical regions of Asia. Representatives of the eastern population go to spend the winter in the south of China, in Southeast Asia. The wintering places of the birds are permanent, having developed over thousands of years.
The bird website Birds4Africa notes that migratory swallows appear throughout South Africa by October. Here they find abundant food, feeding in groups. At night, the birds gather in large nests in reed beds. Experts from the Northumberland National Park website believe that swallows do not stay in South Africa forever because of the numerous predators that threaten their offspring.
Nightingales
These small passerine birds are famous for their unique singing. Their habitats are all of Europe and western Asia, some species are distributed as far as the Far East. Nightingales do not migrate from the warm regions of such a vast range for the winter.
From the cold parts of Central Asia, birds fly away for the winter to India, China, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia. Birds cover huge distances in search of a suitable climate.
European nightingales, according to the British Foundation for Ornithologists (BTO), winter in the humid zone of West Africa. Nightingales from Scandinavia migrate to North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and southern Iran. During wintering, birds feed on insects, worms, berries. But here they do not sing as they do in their homeland.
Cranes
Cranes are the birds that most disturb the soul with their croaking in autumn. The common crane is a large bird that lives throughout Europe and in the northern part of Asia. Here, in dense bushes and tall reeds, they build nests.
At the end of August, they gather in pre-flight groups of up to several thousand individuals. At this time, they feed on grain that remains in the fields and gain strength. During migration, cranes form the famous wedge. Thanks to their large wings, they have developed a special migration strategy. The birds catch therms (warm vertical air currents), the entire flock takes off and quickly disappears into the sky. The currents carry the cranes over long distances.
Cranes from Northern Europe winter in France, Spain, Egypt, and Sudan. Central Europeans migrate to Turkey, Israel, Iran, Iraq, and from Siberia and the Far East to India and China.
Storks
Storks, like swallows, are among the longest-distance migratory birds. White storks are inhabitants of Europe and Asia. They do not fly away from warm regions, but spend the winter in their nesting sites. From Europe, storks have laid several routes to the south:
- From the western part of the continent through Gibraltar to South Africa.
- From Eastern Europe through Asia Minor, Israel to East Africa, Ethiopia.
- From Northern Europe through France, Spain to winter in Morocco.
- From Germany and Hungary they fly through the Balkans, Turkey to Central and South Africa.
For the flight, storks gather in flocks of 500-600 individuals. They fly during the day at a high altitude, often soaring, falling into thermal currents. While soaring, they do not fold their wings and do not expend energy. They spend up to 2 months on the way to wintering.
In their wintering grounds, they gather in flocks of thousands, although in their homeland they live in family nests. They fatten up well during the winter and return home twice as fast.
Pink flamingos
The habitat of pink flamingos is the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and the northernmost nesting sites are in Kazakhstan. Exotic birds settle in salt lagoons and near alkaline lakes.
The Sea World website writes that flamingos tend to move within their habitat:
- In the Mediterranean, they fly irregularly from France, Italy, Spain, Turkey to Algeria.
- Those born in Algeria move to Turkey, and from Spain, Italy, Greece – to France.
But in Asia, due to changing climatic conditions (drought or frost), they began to migrate en masse to the south – to the southern part of India, to Sri Lanka. There they gather in flocks of more than a thousand individuals, and can sometimes stay for the whole year. But they do not arrange nesting colonies for reproduction. Flamingos migrate from Kazakhstan in September–October. Their route runs along the coast of the Caspian Sea, and they winter either in the southern part of the sea or in the Persian Gulf.
Flamingos fly at night in flocks of 20–60 birds or several hundred. They fly at different heights: over water – at 50 m, over land – up to 2–6 km. They cover up to 600 km per night.
Pelicans
Pink pelicans live in Eurasia, nesting from the Danube Delta in the west to Mongolia in the east. They go to the Mediterranean, to northern Africa, to the regions between the Persian Gulf and northern India for the winter. In flight, pelicans line up in several oblique lines. They flap their wings synchronously and begin gliding.
The American white pelican lives in America. It has settled in the western part of Canada, the USA, Mexico and Panama. It migrates from nesting sites to central California, the coast of Guatemala, and the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. After waiting out the cold season, pelicans return to their permanent colonies for breeding.
Conclusion
Over the past 30 years, as noted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the number of migratory birds has halved. Flights for them are becoming risky due to the destruction of ecosystems and poaching. Nevertheless, out of 11 thousand bird species, about 2 thousand migrate for the winter.
The obvious reasons for seasonal bird migrations are lack of food and unfavorable weather conditions. Instincts drive them on long, difficult flights twice a year to warmer regions and back to their homeland.