Skip to main content
Audubon
  • Audubon Near You
    • Audubon Locations
    • Audubon Events
  • Press Room
  • Shop Audubon
    • Audubon Products
    • Gift Center
  • We Are All Audubon

    The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation.

    Bald Eagle. Photo: Howard Arndt/Audubon Photography Awards

    About Audubon

    • Audubon Network
    • The Flyways
    • 2016-2020 Strategic Plan
    • Leadership & Board of Directors
    • Reports & Financials
    • Audubon Action Fund
    • Fellowships
    • Careers
    • Our History
    • Contact Us
  • Membership
  • Donate
  • Take Action
    Close
    See all the ways you can help
    Or take action immediately with one of our current campaigns below:
    Create a Bird-Friendly Home
    Create a Bird-Friendly Home
    Birds Tell Us to Act on Climate
    Sign the Pledge
    Turn Lights Out For Migrating Birds
    Sign the Pledge
  • Membership
    • Become a Member
    • Renew Membership
  • Donate
  • We protect birds and the places they need.
    • Climate
      389 | North American bird species are threatened by climate change
    • Coasts
      1,100 | Number of coastal sites where Audubon works
    • Water
      200,000 | Acre-feet of water set aside for conservation purposes along the Colorado River
    • Working Lands
      1.9M | Acres of farmland under bird-friendly land management practices
    • Bird-Friendly Communities
      800,000 | Native plants planted by Audubon members

    More Areas of Focus

    • The Audubon Network
    • Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
    • Conservation Policy & Advocacy
    • Campus Chapters
    • Audubon Science
    • Audubon Americas

    Special Initiatives

    • Migratory Bird Initiative
    • The Audubon Mural Project
    • Survival By Degrees
  • You are what hope looks like to a bird.
    Audubon members protect birds. Join today
    • Help power unparalleled conservation work for birds across the Americas
    • Stay informed on important news about birds and their habitats
    • Receive reduced or free admission across our network of centers and sanctuaries

    Join

    Great Egret. Photo: Dick Dickinson/Audubon Photography Awards

    Where Your Voice is Needed

    • Defend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act
    • Help Reverse the Seabird Crisis
    • Protect Birds From Climate Change

    More Ways to Help

    • Give to Audubon
    • Become a Bird Advocate
    • Find an Audubon Near You
    • Make Your Home Bird-Friendly
    • Plant Native Plants
  • Discover the birds around you.
    Audubon Guide to North American Birds
    • Access a free guide of more than 800 species of North American birds
    • Discover the impacts of climate change on birds and their habitats
    • Learn more about the birds you love through audio clips, stunning photography, and in-depth text
    Audubon Bird Guide App
    The Audubon Bird Guide is a free and complete field guide to more than 800 species of North American birds, right in your pocket.
    Download Bird Guide app on the Apple store Get Bird Guide app on Google Play

    More Guides & Resources

    • John James Audubon's Birds of America
    • How to Get Into Birding
    • Binocular Guide
    • Spotting Scope Guide
    • Take Better Bird Photos
    • Travel & Bird Trails
    • Audubon for Kids
  • The latest on birds and their habitats.
    Bird & Conservation News
    • Migrating Male Birds Race Ahead to Keep Up with Spring’s Early Arrival
    • The 2022 Audubon Photography Awards: Top 12 Videos
    • Get a Birding Boost: Join the Great Backyard Bird Count

    Further Reading

    • Audubon in Action
    • Audubon Photography Awards
    Magazine Stories and Issues

    Special Offer

    • Get a full year of Audubon Magazine delivered
  • Press Room
  • Shop Audubon
    • Audubon Products
    • Gift Center
  • We Are All Audubon

    The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation.

    Bald Eagle. Photo: Howard Arndt/Audubon Photography Awards

    About Audubon

    • Audubon Network
    • The Flyways
    • 2016-2020 Strategic Plan
    • Leadership & Board of Directors
    • Reports & Financials
    • Audubon Action Fund
    • Fellowships
    • Careers
    • Our History
    • Contact Us
  • Audubon Near You
Type in your search and hit enter
Type in your search and hit go
Type in your search and hit Enter on desktop or hit Go on mobile device

The Many Styles of Bird Migration Are More Varied Than You Think

BY LAUREN LEFFER | ILLUSTRATIONS BY LIZ WAHID | SPRING 2022

At least 40 percent of bird species migrate in some form. But it’s simplistic to think of these trips as only annual flights south in fall and north in spring. Migration spans a spectrum from a weeks long pilgrimage to a short meander. A bird might depart on the same day every year to a specific destination or follow irregular cycles. Most birds fly, but some walk, swim, or even stomach slide. Understanding migration means embracing a range of unique, astounding, and downright weird strategies.

White-winged Crossbills

White-winged Crossbills are nomadic, known to wander North America’s boreal forests in big flocks while seeking out conifer seeds. These birds travel great distances to access abundant food, from Alaska to Maine and points in between. The timing and path of their movement varies year to year—and if good cone crops persist, they’ll stay put.

Northern Bobwhites

Northern Bobwhites in the Smoky Mountains are altitudinal migrants. Instead of moving to different latitudes with the seasons, they move to lower elevations for food in winter and higher elevations to breed in spring. Theirs is one of the very few altitudinal journeys in the eastern United States.

Eared Grebes

Eared Grebes embark on molt migrations. On annual travels, they make long stops at hypersaline lakes in Utah and California to shed and regrow feathers. While the waterbirds are flightless for months, the unique habitat offers a feast of brine flies and shrimp and few predators. Their breeding sites can shift yearly, but their molting areas stay the same.

American Robins

Not all American Robins migrate. Some stay put all year, while others fly thousands of miles—making the species a partial migrant. The decision to stay or go depends on many factors. If berries are scarce in winter, or if weather gets too harsh, birds may seek better conditions elsewhere. Climate change could be making year-round residents more common.

Spruce Grouse

Spruce Grouses opt to migrate on foot, although they can fly short distances. Their slow, seasonal movements are small compared to other birds: less than 7 miles between breeding and wintering sites (and usually under a mile). Females are up to four times more likely to migrate but it’s unknown why.

Scripps’s Murrelets

When Scripps’s Murrelets leave breeding islands, newly hatched young can’t yet fly. Families migrate together to non-breeding territory along North America's Pacific Coast by swimming. Known to nest in only about 10 places, these rare seabirds are of conservation concern.

Snowy Owls

Some Snowy Owls migrate yearly, while others stay near breeding grounds. At irregular intervals, however, these birds are irruptive, moving en masse to a new location. In these years, snowies are a common winter sight in the United States and may fly as far as Florida. Why owls irrupt is somewhat a mystery: Theories include prey and weather fluctuations.

Bar-tailed Godwits

Bar-tailed Godwits undertake the longest nonstop migration known. Individuals have been recorded traveling more than 8,100 miles without food or rest and regularly flying more than 7,000 miles one-way in only nine days. To achieve this, their kidneys, stomachs, and livers rapidly change in size. The organs expand while a godwit fuels up to facilitate quick digestion and larger energy stores; they shrink before takeoff to make room for fat and flight muscles. One study found the birds’ fat composition went from 17 to more than 50 percent just before migration.

Emperor Penguins

In March Emperor Penguins travel up to 100 miles by either walking or tobogganing on their bellies to reach inland breeding colonies in Antarctica. There, amid the planet’s harshest conditions, they lay their eggs.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds beat their wings more than 50 times a second. The frenetic flapping makes their migration one of the most energy-intensive. In preparation for traveling from the Gulf Coast to Central America, birds store fat and double their weight. Although unconfirmed, scientists think some birds may undertake a risky nonstop route of more than 600 miles across the Gulf of Mexico.

Directional Outliers

Dusky Grouses head upslope in winter from their open breeding areas toward dense conifer forests—going in the opposite seasonal direction compared to most altitudinal migrants.

Richard’s Pipits, Eurasian songbirds, are one of the first species known to be shifting migration routes from a north-south to east-west direction, likely in response to climate change.

Pace Makers

Common Swifts, with the help of the wind, are among the fastest known migrants and can cover more than 500 miles of ground per day as they travel between Africa and Eurasia.

Ospreys, by contrast, take their time, often stopping or diverting course to fish. One tracked male spent 20 days mid-migration in Cuba before continuing on to Brazil.

Illustrations: Liz Wahid. Web adaptation: Alex Tomlinson/Audubon.
From Audubon Magazine

The Many Styles of Bird Migration Are More Varied Than You Think

It's the journey, not the destination.

By Lauren Leffer

Spring 2022
   

How you can help, right now

Get Audubon in Your Inbox

Let us send you the latest in bird and conservation news. 

 

Blackburnian Warbler. Jamie Harrelson/Audubon Photography Awards

Find Audubon Near You

Visit your local Audubon center, join a chapter, or help save birds with your state program.

Become an Audubon Member

Membership benefits include one year of Audubon magazine and the latest on birds and their habitats. Your support helps secure a future for birds at risk.

Spread the word. It’s the least you can do.

Stay abreast of Audubon

Our email newsletter shares the latest programs and initiatives.

National Audubon Society

Audubon protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow.

  • Home
  • News
  • Birds
  • Conservation
  • Get Outside
  • Magazine
  • About Us
  • Press Room
  • Careers
  • Audubon Near You
  • Notice of Annual Meeting
  • Donate Now
  • Renew Membership
  • Join Audubon
  • Monthly Giving
  • Adopt a Bird
  • Legacy Gift
  • Audubon Products
  • Online Store
  • Take Action

National Audubon Society Legal Notices Privacy Policy Contact Us