Migration
Fly away home…
Many migration studies use modern techniques combining radio transmitters with satellite tracking. The studies involve both very scare and quite common species and have recently uncovered a great deal of information regarding both routes and en route feeding and hidden wintering grounds etc.
I was just reading an article extolling the virtues of “viz mig” otherwise known as visible migration. It really is a joy to see and can be a treat in an unlikely circumstance. last year, for example, I was waiting in a town centre in SE England whilst my wife shopped. Looking up (this was late september) I saw a few swallows passing south over the high street. 20 minutes later I was up to 800 – that afternoon others reported many thousands of swallows on the move. A joy to marvel at.
Migration may not be spectacular and rarity oriented. watching your local patch at migration times brings the frisson of finding less common birds, or even just ones not common to the patch. A sudden influx of Scandinavian Robins can be as exciting as finding a true rarity.
See individual countries for Bird Observatories.
Useful Reading
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Bird Display
| (An Introduction to the Study of Bird Psychology) | By Edward A Armstrong | Cambridge University Press | 2015 | Paperback | ISBN: 9781107511576 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Bird Migration - A General Survey
| by Peter Berthold | OUP | 2001 | Second Edition | 2001 | Paperback | 253 pages, figs, tabs, maps | ISBN: 9780198507871 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds
| by Scott Weidensaul | North Point Press | 2000 | Paperback | 420 pages | ISBN: 9780865475915 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Migration Hotspots
| (The World's Best Bird Migration Sites ) | By Tim Harris & Christopher Perrins | Bloomsbury | 2013 | Hardback |224 pages | colour photos, colour maps | ISBN: 9781408171172 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Monitoring Bird Populations Using Mist Nets
| By CJ Ralph & EH Dunn | Cooper Ornithological Society | 2004 | Paperback | 211 pages, diagrams, tables | ISBN: 9780943610610 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Studies in Bird Migration, Volume 1
| By William Eagle Clarke | Cambridge University Press | 2014 | Paperback | 323 pages, 2 b/w illustrations, 7 b/w maps | ISBN: 9781108066976 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Studies in Bird Migration, Volume 2
| By William Eagle Clarke | Cambridge University Press | 2014 | Paperback | 346 pages, 16 b/w illustrations, 1 b/w map | ISBN: 9781108066983 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
The Avian Migrant
| (The Biology of Bird Migration) | by John H Rappole | Columbia University Press | 2013 | Hardback | 512 pages, 109 figures | ISBN: 9780231146784 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
The Migration Ecology of Birds
| by Ian Newton | Academic Press | 2007 | Hardback | 976 pages, illustrations, maps, tables | ISBN: 9780125173674 Buy this book from NHBS.com -
Wings and Rings
| (A History of Bird Migration Studies in Europe) | By Richard Vaughan | Isabelline Books | 2009 | Paperback | 256 pages, colour and black & white plates | ISBN: 9780955278747 Buy this book from NHBS.com
Useful Information
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Euro Bird Portal
WebsiteDuring the last ten years, the number and diversity of web portals dedicated to the collection of bird observations has increased rapidly and most of Europe is now covered by at least one of them. Some portals are based on very specific systems and cover a limited geographical area (e.g. a region or country) while others function across several countries using the same basic package. While there is substantial variation in the scope and volumes of data gathered by different portals, the advent of online data collection has produced a vast amount of data that would previously have been impossible to amass.
Museums & Universities
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Oxford Navigation Group
WebsiteOur group's research focuses on behavioural and ecological aspects of animal navigation and spatial cognition, using a number of different species and a variety of state-of-the-art sensor technologies. We study the contribution of individual cognitive capabilities and navigational strategies, and of the ecological, sensory, and social environments to animal movement...
Organisations
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Audubon - Flyways
WebpageSelect a bird to learn more about its journey along the flyways. -
BTO - Birdtrack
WebpageThe online bird recording scheme to increase the personal, local and national value of your sightings -
BirdLife - Migration Marathons
WebpageAround one in five of all the world’s bird species migrate. And while every migration is an epic and often perilous feat of endurance, here’s a selection of species that we feel go the extra mile. -
Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species
WebsiteThe Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Bonn Convention or CMS) was adopted in Bonn, Germany in 1979 and came into force in 1983. -
National Geographic - Billions of Birds Migrate
WebpageMigratory birds have made their thousand-mile flights for millennia, but we are just now learning to map their mesmerizing journeys. -
RSPB - Migration
WebpageMigration - the regular movement of birds and wildlife from one part of the world to another and back again - is one of the wonders of the natural world. Read more at https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/natures-home-magazine/birds-and-wildlife-articles/migration/#vfbdMkD6O7Elxt2M.99 -
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
WebpageThe Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center is dedicated to fostering greater understanding, appreciation, and protection of the grand phenomenon of bird migration -
The Wildlife Trusts - Where to watch migrating birds
WebpageWhether flying from the south to breed in the spring, or from the north in the winter in search of food and milder climes, or simply passing through on their journey, bird migration is one of the UK’s most impressive natural events. -
Trektellen
WebsiteMigration counts and ringing records The Netherlands, Flanders and France -
eBird - real-time migration information
WebpageThe Cornell Lab’s BirdCast project has two incredible new features: a 3-day migration forecast for the entire continental US and a live migration map for the same region. Check out how these new features allow you to discover migration like never before!
Other Links
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ARRCN Asian Raptor Migration WebPage
WebsiteThis web site is consisted by information of Asian raptor migration. Therfore, if you have some information on Asian raptor migration, please send me the data.We ask that the following raptor migration data be provided, at least. -
Bird Monitoring in North America
WebsiteThe monitoring programs highlighted on these pages can be used to track changes in North American bird populations. These trends give conservationists, managers, citizens, and policy makers a window into the natural world and the health of environment. The patterns of increase and decrease are quantifications that can be tested against and compared to the subjective feelings we have on the status of birds in North America. Are more species increasing than decreasing? Are Eastern Bluebirds doing well or poorly? What do we know about shorebirds? Learn about these programs, use their data, participate in the counts, and write about the changes. -
BirdTrack
WebpageBirdTrack is an exciting project, through a partnership between the BTO, the RSPB, Birdwatch Ireland and the Scottish Ornithologists' Club, that looks at migration movements and distributions of birds throughout Britain and Ireland. BirdTrack provides facilities for observers to store and manage their own personal records as well as using these to support species conservation at local, regional, national and international scales -
Hawk Migration Network of Japan
WebsiteHawk Migration Monitoring Throughout Japan - including Links to other Hawk Migration websites in Japan and beyond. -
Hummingbird Migration
WebpageGet involved with hummingbird migration with the Perky-Pet® Hummingbird Migration Map! This interactive tool uses Google's map application right from inside our own Birdfeeders.com! -
Journey North
WebsiteOver 4,500 schools, representing more than 250,000 students, participated in the Spring, 2000 Journey North Program. These students are from all 50 U.S. States and 7 Canadian Provinces -
Lesser Golden Plover Migration
WebsiteShorebirds, like most of our waterfowl, nest on th arctic tundra and migrate to southern wintering grounds. Yet unlike waterfowl, many shorebirds -- sandpipers, plovers, godwits, curlews --- migrate beyond the confines of the North American continent -
Light Pollution - FLAP [Fatal Light Awareness Program]
WebsiteWhat to with night light to prevent migration casualties. -
Migrations
WebsiteMigration is not just something we observe in birds but part of our own nature -
Operation Migration
Facebook PageTo educate all ages about Whooping cranes and the wetlands they rely upon. -
Satellite Tracking of Endangered Birds
WebsiteThe Patuxent Wildlife Research Centre, and the Direct Readout group of the Applied Information Sciences Branch (Code 935) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre are working together on a project to monitor the migration routes of several endangered species using satellite tracking -
UK Migration Map
WebpageMigration maps for seven species (so far) including swallow and turtle dove.