How Do Birds Find Their Way

How Do Birds Find Their Way

We can watch birds fly from tree to tree, from tree to house, then back again. They seem to fly here, and there, and anywhere.

If we watch birds all year, we find that some seem to disappear in fall, when the days get shorter and colder. They are flying south, where it is warmer.

Early in spring the first birds begin to come back. Every spring birds return north to make their nests, lay eggs, and hatch their babies. We say the birds are“ migrating. ” They are moving from their winter homes in the south to their summer homes in the north. Once they reach their northern homes, they will build their nests. They may build nests in trees or shrubs, or on porch ledges. Or, like the woodpeckers, they may bore holes down into trees and make their cozy nests inside. Some go to the same nesting area or even the exact same nest that they used the summer before.

Long ago people did not know that some birds migrate. They thought the birds hid in holes in the ground and slept all winter. Some people guessed that birds spent the winter in the mud on the bottoms of ponds. Now we know where these birds go. When birds start to migrate, ornithologists-scientists who study birds-use trap sand nets to catch a few of them. They put bands on their legs and then let the birds go. The bands do not hurt the birds. Each band has a code on it that tells where and when the bird was banded.

Some birds migrate for weeks because they stop along the way. Other birds fly for only a few days. Some birds fly thousands of miles when they migrate. We know that orioles fly south to Panama. And barn swallows fly to Central and South America. Hummingbirds weigh only as much as a penny, yet they fly over water for 500 miles, without stopping, when they migrate. Arctic terns fly more than 10, 000 miles-all the way from Northern Maine to the South Pole. But how do the birds know where to go? And how do they find their way? That's the big mystery.