BIRD MIGRATION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 June 1942, Page 5

BIRD MIGRATION

MOVEMENTS IN NORTH AMERICA. OTTAWA. Most of the birds that migrate to and from the Canadian northlands prefer to travel at night. The night migrants include all the numerous fly-catchers, vireos, warblers, thrushes, orioles, tanagers, and shorebirds, and most of the sparrows. Some species make their migratory flights in daylight. These include the swallows, nighthawks, chimney swift, various hawks, and the ducks and geese. Insect-eating birds often combine business with pleasure by feeding erratically on the wing. The annual spring migration of the birds usually begins in Canada in the middle of February and continues until early June. The movements to the ancestral breeding grounds is accomplished in the face of many hazards, hardships and adverse weather conditions. The great distances that some kinds of birds travel on these journeys are amazing. Tire bobolinks that nest in Canadian meadows, winter in southern Brazil and neighbouring countries, while, the tiny humming-bird returns to Canada each spring from Mexico and Central America.