Bird Migration: By:Pratima Behera Roll - No:31916028

BIRD MIGRATION
By:Pratima Behera
Roll.no:31916028
BIRDS
 Birds are the only animals that have feathers which help
them fly. They have two wings instead of arms and two
legs.
 There are nearly 9000 kinds of birds in the world. They
are of different colours, shapes and sizes and they eat
different sorts of food.
Bird migration
Migration is the seasonal movements between a breeding
location and a location where it survives when not breeding”
These movements are usually irregular or in only one
direction and are termed variously as nomadism, invasions,
dispersal or irruptions. Migration is marked by its annual
seasonality.
Why do birds Migrate?
 The changing seasons can transform a comfortable
environment of a bird into an unlivable one -- the food
and water supply can dwindle or disappear, plant cover
can vanish, and competition with other animals can
increase.
 Nature has provided methods for coping with the
situation.
 Hibernation: involves entering a dormant state during
the winter season.
Migration: involves escaping the area entirely. Because of the
powers of flight, most birds adapt to seasonal changes in the
environment by migrating
General patterns of BirdMigration
 The most common pattern involves flying north in the
spring to breed in the temperate or Arctic summer and
returning in the fall to wintering grounds in warmer
regions to the south.
 In some cases the migration may involve narrow belts
of migration that are established as traditional routes
termed as flyway.
 Many of the larger birds fly in flocks. Flying in flocks
helps in reducing the energy needed.
 Many large birds fly in a V-formation, which helps
individuals save 12–20 % of the energy they would need
to fly alone.
In contrast, most species of penguin migrate by
swimming. These routes can cover over 1000 km
With regard to periodic seasonal

movements, or migration, our birds can be
classified as belonging to one of four
groups:
Permanent residents: “Residents," are non-migrating birds
such as House Sparrows.
Summer residents: Migratory birds such as Purple Martins
who arrive in in the spring, nest during the summer, and
return south to wintering grounds in the fall.
Winter residents: Migratory birds who have "come south"
for the winter to our backyards. White-throated Sparrows.
Transients: Migratory species who nest farther north than
our neighborhoods, but who winter farther south; they are
"just passing through."
Evolution of Bird Migration

Two Theories about the bird migration have been given:
According to one theory“ the birds spread over the
northern hemisphere when it was warm and abounded in
food throughout the year”.
At the onset of ice age these were forced to shift
southwards for survival. With the end of ice age, they
returned in spring, but had to shift southwards due to
sharp establishment of winter and summer seasons.
Another theory says that the ancestral home of the birds
was in tropics, and some went to north to avoid
overcrowding and competition during breeding season.
After breeding, they return and this became their
permanent habit in due course of time.
Migratory behavior continues to evolve because of the
changing environment in which the birds live:
Ifenvironmentalconditionsfavor migration, the number of
birds that migrate increases;
if conditions permit the birds to stay in one place, the
sedentary type predominates.
Stimulus for Migration

Two types of stimuli generates the urge for migration in
birds.
External Stimulus: Variation in Day Length
Internal Stimulus: Physiological state of Gonads and
favorable energy balance.
Photoreceptor in Eye & Pineal body
Stimulate
Hypothalamus
Release
Neurohormones
Stimulate
Pitutatry to Secrete Gonadotrophic Hormone
Activates Gonad Causing Urge to Migrate
Pitutatry to Secrete Gonadotrophic Hormone
Activates Gonad Causing Urge to Migrate.At the time of
regression of gonads birds become insensitive to day length
And this insensitivity makes the bird ready for Southward
Migration.
Birds Migrating in Flocks or Alone
 Some species of birds are highly social during migration,
moving in flocks.
 They are generally daytime migrants. Flocks of
migrating birds consist of family groups.
 Flocked migrants include auks and puffins, cormorants,
pelicans, ducks and geese, cranes, gulls, terns, sandpipers,
plovers and many land birds, including doves, swifts,
swallows, larks, pipits, crows, jays, waxwings, blackbirds,
and starlings .
 Often they congregate during migration at a few major
stopover or staging areas where food is particularly
abundant.
 An equally diverse array of species seems to migrate in
a more solitary fashion, perhaps occasionally forming
more or less aggregations with others of their kind, but
basically winging it alone.
 These birds include grebes, most herons, rails, some
hawks, owls, nightjars, cuckoos, hummingbirds,
kingfishers, woodpeckers, most flycatchers, creepers,
wrens, kinglets, thrushes, vireos, wood warblers, and
orioles.
TYPES OF BIRD MIGRATION
On the basis of altitude migrations are of two types:

Latitudinal Migration: Migration of birds from North to
South and back.
Altitudinal Migration: Migration of birds from east to west
On the basis of distance migrations are again of two types:
Long-distance migration: Many northern-breeding birs are
long-distance migrants, as they move from their Arctic
breeding grounds to far enough south to escape frozen
waters.
Short-distance migration: Many species move shorter
distances, but may do so only in response to harsh weather
conditions.
Factors Affecting Migration Of

Birds
Height: Birds behave some what differently from one species
to the next, as the songbirds fly at altitudes of less than
5,000 feet, and the majority travel no higher than 2,500 feet.
Weather Conditions: At the beginning of migration, not only
are the immediate flight conditions important, but the
weather at the destination or starting point of the flight may
also be critical to a bird's survival
Direction and Speed of Wind:
 One of the most critical weather factors affecting
migration is wind direction.
 Winds blow clockwise around high- and counter-
clockwise around low air-pressure systems.
Migration tend to be heaviest in areas where the winds blow
in the direction the birds are going and lightest where
headwinds impede migration.
Bird Navigational Techniques
 Sun Compass
 Star Compass
 Odor Map
 Magnetic Map
 Magnetic Compass
Waterfowl (Snow Geese) Migration
 The migration pattern of the Snow Geese is typical.
 It nest in high arctic regions from the North Slope of
Alaska, eastward along the coast of northwestern
Greenland, and southward along the western and
southern shores of Hudson Bay.
 They migrate southward during the fall in large flocks,
flying both day and night at high altitudes.
 The time of their flight is dependent upon weather.
When conditions are right they can cover many
hundreds of miles during a single high-altitude flight.
 Snow Geese spend the winter on the mid-Atlantic coast,
the Louisiana-Texas Gulf coast, and in California and
the Southwest
Seabird (Arctic Tern )Migration
 Seabirds are marvelously adapted for covering great
distances over seemingly trackless oceans and, as
migrants go, they hold the records.
 The fabled Arctic Tern nests as far north as open land
exists and travels the length of the oceans to winter at
the other end of the world.
 It is a round trip of some 25,000 miles performed every
year of the birds life.
Shorebird Migration
Shorebirds, nest on the arctic tundra and migrate to southern
wintering grounds
Classic example, Lesser Golden Plover, spends the
northern winter on the vast Argentinian
grasslands called the pampas.
 In spring the golden-plovers migrate northward in
flocks, crossing the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
 They enter the United States mainly along the Texas
and Louisiana coasts, and head up through the interior
of North America, stopping to feed on insects in
pastures and plowed fields of the agricultural Midwest.
 These long-distance migrants arrive in their breeding
grounds in June, and nest during the long days of the
brief northern summer.
Advantages of Migration to Birds
By being away from high altitudes during winters they avoid:
 Cold stormy weather.
 Shortage of food due to snow fall and freezing of water.
 Short daylight hours available for search of food.
By returning to high latitudes in summer, the birds get
 Suitable uncongested breeding grounds.
 Abundant food due to luxuriant spring vegetation.
 Long daylight hours for search of food.

Bird Migration: By:Pratima Behera Roll - No:31916028

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Bird Migration: By:Pratima Behera Roll - No:31916028

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Bird Migration: By:Pratima Behera Roll - No:31916028

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BIRD MIGRATION

With regard to periodic seasonal

Evolution of Bird Migration

Stimulus for Migration

On the basis of altitude migrations are of two types:

Factors Affecting Migration Of

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