Migratory Birds

Bird Migration:

Every living being has the ultimate aim of growth and multiplication. Each living creature has its characteristic ways to adapt to the surroundings and enhance its ability to fulfill the above-mentioned objectives. Bird migration is also one such way adapted by many birds to tackle seasonal changes, food availability, and increase their breeding capacity. 

Bird migration or also known as avian migration is a natural process. Birds chose to travel over large distances of about hundreds or thousands of kilometers through aerial route. All this traveling is just to get the best ecological parameters and locations for breeding and raising their young offspring. Once the coin flips again and conditions at the breeding ground turn unfavorable these birds again travel to prior locations where there are fewer fluctuations in conditions. 

The migration routes of these birds are not random but pre-decided paths indeed. How these birds navigate with such accuracy and precision is still not well understood. Also, there are different patterns of migration depending on the original habitat of the bird. Some species share similar routes and these routes are classified into major flyways as follows-

• American flyway: three flyways come under this group and connect North America to the Caribbean & Central and South America
• African- Eurasian Flyway: this also consists of three paths and connects Europe & Northern Asia with Mediterranean Middle East and Africa
• Central Asian Flyway: this route joins northern Asia to southern Asia and the Middle East
• East Asian– Australasian Flyway: this path joins north-east Asia to south-east Asia, Australia, and New Zealand 

We humans have always been curious and fascinated by these migratory birds. Indeed many ancient stories highlight the cultural importance of these migratory birds. Besides the cultural importance, these are predictors of seasonal shifts from ancient times as well as play an important role in the ecosystem. 

Features of Migratory Birds:

Migratory birds have suitable morphological and very important physiological features. These features help these birds to switch between sedentary and migratory lifestyles, to navigate through a correct path and the right point of time. These birds tend to over accumulate energy stores like fats during the resting periods between migrations. Also, the trigger for the migration depends on external stimuli like climate fluctuations and especially day length and is regulated through genetic and physiological factors. Scientific background and key factors specific to migratory birds are also documented by various authors and are reviewed in some articles. (One such article is listed in the references).

These birds can fly at different speeds and different altitudes. Some fly at low altitudes within the range of human eyesight on the other hand some birds fly at high altitudes, for example, Songbirds travel at 500 to 2000 feet whereas if we talk about Geese or Vultures, they used to fly at 29,000 to 37,000 feet altitudes.

Examples of Migratory Birds:

1. Siberian Cranes:

The scientific name of the Siberian crane is Leucogeranus leucogeranus and belongs to the family Gruidae. These are also known as Siberian White Crane or Snow Crane. Adult individuals of this species are all snowy white as the name suggests, and have black primary feathers which could be seen during their flight only. These have two breeding populations. One belongs to the Arctic tundra of western and the other one belongs to eastern Russia. The latter migrates to China during winters while the former population migrates to Iran and India during winters. Among crane species, these are longest-distance travelers. But due to the activities like hunting and reduction in their habitat due to expanding human civilization these migratory bird species are on the list of endangered species.

2. Greater Flamingo:

The scientific name of the Greater Flamingo is Phoenicopterus roseus and it is the largest living species of the flamingo group. It can be naturally found in Africa, India, the Middle East, and southern Europe. The plumage is pink to white and the wings are red with primary feathers of black color. Greater flamingos that reside in northern Asia, Africa, or the Middle East region migrate to Iran or India during the non-breeding period.

Other than these there are many more examples of migratory birds some are listed below:

• Amur Falcon
• Demoiselle Crane
• Bluethroat
• Black-winged stilt
• Blue-tailed bee-eater, etc

Protecting migratory birds:

Migrating or traveling over such large distances is indeed challenging. But, not to surprise, migratory birds are exposed to many human-originated threats rather than natural disasters. These threats include hunting activities, an increased number of towers, and skyscrapers which come into the path of migration and put the lives of these species at greater risk. Also, ever-expanding human civilization and pollution cause a reduction in suitable habitat locations for these birds, which was the primary motive for the migratory lifestyle! Thus with all these facts, it is necessary to take measures for protecting the migratory bird species.

Conclusion:

Bird migration is the essential phenomenon for the survival and multiplication of certain bird species. These birds have also inherited related physiological and behavioral characteristics which suit their migratory lifestyle. The path which these birds follow is also pre-determined and set. The migratory birds are tracked from ancient times for cultural importance as well as to predict seasonal shifts of the year. This tells how accurate and precise behavior these birds follow during their migration. Now with increasing human interference, we need to look for conservative steps for protecting this fascinating community of migratory birds.