Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS

Migration in Large Numbers

The Ducks form another interesting group, although their journeys during the migrations are not nearly so extended as the birds just mentioned. The larger number breed mainly to the north of the United States and many within the Arctic Circle. Certain species, as the Eider Duck, only come south in winter to the coast of northern Maine, others, as the Old Squaw, may reach the Potomac and the Ohio, while most of them, as the Bald-pate, Blue-winged Teal, Pintail, Golden-eye, BufHehead, etc., visit Mexico, Guatemala, northern South America, or the West Indies.

Certain of the familiar birds of lawn, hedgerow, and field, for whose coming we watch so anxiously, may claim a moment's attention. The Bobolink, so dear to the hearts of the residents of New England, makes his appearance in his summer home in May. By the last of July or the first part of August the young are reared, the old males have lost their bright dress, and with a musical chink as their only note, they start southward. In the region of the Chesapeake they begin to congregate in vast flocks, where they are known as Reed-birds, but in a few weeks they pass on to the rice fields of the South, to become the dreaded Rice-bird. But by October the last one has disappeared, and some by way of Cuba, others by way of Central America, where a few may linger, the main body presses onward beyond the Amazon into central and southeastern Brazil. On the return journey they reach the southern border of the United States in March and April.

The Catbird is found in summer throughout the eastern United States and British Provinces, and in winter in the Southern States, Cuba, and middle America to Panama. Our common Robin is very erratic in habits of migration. Occasionally a few may winter in dense swamps as far north as southern Canada and [Maine, but the majority spend the winter in the Southern States. The Chimney Swift is found in summer in eastern North America and thence north to Labrador and the fur countries.

The winter is spent to the south of the United States. Cliff and Barn Swallows, which are found over nearly all North America in summer, may penetrate to Brazil, Paraguay, and the West Indies in winter. The Scarlet Tanager passes the winter in Central America and northern South America, and the familiar Indigo-bird may go as far as Panama.

The great group of Warblers, of which some 70 species are found in the United States, has been mentioned before. They are all strongly migratory and mainly pass beyond our southern borders in winter, although a few individuals of a single species — the Yellow-rumped Warbler — have been known to winter on Cape Cod. Some of them visit the West Indies, but the larger number, after rearing their young in the dense coniferous forests of the Hudson Bay region or even in Alaska, spend the winter in Mexico, Central America, or northern South America.

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