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Migration

This document discusses bird migration and provides tips to help migrating birds. It notes that many birds leave Connecticut for warmer climates in the winter and return in the summer. During migration, birds need food and shelter stops to rest and refuel. The document encourages readers to provide bird feeders, native plants and trees that produce food year-round, and dead trees and brush piles for shelter. It also suggests breaking up reflections in windows to prevent bird collisions during migration seasons in the spring and fall.

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Hartford Courant
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195 views

Migration

This document discusses bird migration and provides tips to help migrating birds. It notes that many birds leave Connecticut for warmer climates in the winter and return in the summer. During migration, birds need food and shelter stops to rest and refuel. The document encourages readers to provide bird feeders, native plants and trees that produce food year-round, and dead trees and brush piles for shelter. It also suggests breaking up reflections in windows to prevent bird collisions during migration seasons in the spring and fall.

Uploaded by

Hartford Courant
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Migration

Sky ABOVE EarthPut out bird feeders, seed, fruit and nectar feeders, and fruit.
Birds use up lots of energy during migration and need to
eat a lot of food.
BELOW
Normally in Connecticut we experience harsh winters or at least some snow
Landscape the yard with native evergreen and fruit
and low temperatures. During the winter season animals may have trouble
bearing trees, shrubs, grasses and vines. Design the
finding food either because the trees have shed all of their leaves and fruit garden so that plants flower and fruit throughout the
or because the food is buried under a blanket of snow. Animals that live here spring, summer and fall. This provides food during both
need to have some way to deal with the changing seasons. Some animals the spring and fall migration.
will hibernate or go into a state of topar to deal with the cold months. Leave dead trees and brush piles to provide shelter, nest
Because birds can fly, most of them just leave. Although some birds stay in sites and food for migrating birds.
Connecticut year round, a large percentage of birds fly south for the winter.
Connecticut also becomes a summer home for some birds from
Canada. Some birds tend to migrate in large groups. A FUN TO DO
common site in the Connecticut sky during migrations is a
During the spring or fall, a fun thing to do is spotting
large group of geese or ducks in the V formation headed
to warmer climates. Other birds are solitary migrators. migrating hawks. Go to an open field and keep your eyes
peeled. See how many different hawks you can spot.
Make sure to bring a field guide. Most field guides have
Did you know? a silhouette section so you can identify the hawk just
Migrating is no vacation. There are many hazards
to migrating, such as predation by wild animals, by the shape of its tail and wings. Some hawks, such
hunting by people, collisions with tall buildings as Red-tailed Hawks, have a fanned out tail, where as
and large windows, and accidents with cars. The
largest problem for migrating birds is loss of
some have a straight tail like the Northern Harrier.
habitat. Birds need to stop along their migration
route to rest and eat to have enough energy for
the next leg of the trip.

A danger for birds is the clearing and developing of Visit Roaring Brook Nature Center
forests that birds have used in the past for rest and Make sure to visit Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton to see hawks
food. If birds stop at the cleared forest and are unable and eagles up close. The nature center is a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
to find food and rest, they will be too depleted of energy taking care of injured wild animals and releasing them when they are healthy.
Some of the animals that can no longer care for themselves have gotten
to find a new, adequate resting spot. a forever home at Roaring Brook, such as Barred Owls, Great Horned Owl,
Red-tail Hawks, Turkey Vulture and a Bald Eagle.

What can you do?


Break up the reflection – Many birds can’t tell the difference between the sky
and the reflection of the sky in a picture window. If you have large windows in Next Page -
your house that a bird could potentially fly into, break it up with pictures or April 3
put a non-reflective film over it during high migration times.
For students who are blind, learning disabled or print challenged, visit CRIS Radio at http://www.
crisradio.org and click Kids On-Demand for a free audio version of Geography Connections.

Sky Above Earth Below is a three part science literacy series presented by NIE in collaboration with
The Children’s Museum. For more information about NIE, visit www.courantnie.com or 860.241.3847

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