Birding picked up dramatically in all habitats this past week. Seabirds, shorebirds and land birds all increased in their respective habitats. The fall migration features many more birds on the Cape and Islands’ than during the spring migration. A couple of important reasons for this are bird populations are at their annual high, a result of all the young birds, first time migrants, that were fledged during the breeding season. Every species populations are at their annual peak, during the late summer and early fall. So there are more birds to see!
Birds have learned through countless generations to migrate along the east coast. This happened because the birds that migrated along the east coast had a higher survival rate and many generations down the road virtually that entire species evolved the coast as the preferred southbound migratory route.
Reasons for the higher survival rate at the coastline are many and include the fact that there is much more food in the form of fruits, the temperatures are kept much warmer than inland due to the relatively warm water nearby allowing for more insect activity, and most importantly is the predominant wind direction. The most common wind direction during upcoming months is northwest. So birds flying along on this quartering tail wind get a “free ride” so to speak and the wind aids them greatly on their southbound migration.
A full audio essay is posted above.
