Five Migratory Birds That Depend on Built-Up Areas

The journeys of migratory birds don’t just move through untouched wilderness—they span a patchwork of cities, towns, farms, and working lands that provide an important stopover on their twice-annual journeys. They need our help. Programs funded through the Urban Bird Treaty (UBT) have shown that relatively modest, locally directed investments can restore habitat, reduce threats like collisions, and engage communities directly. H.R. 3276, the Local Communities and Bird Habitat Stewardship Act, currently making its way through Congress, would expand on federal funding for locally led projects that create bird habitat, reduce urban threats, and connect communities to conservation. Here are five beloved bird species that depend on the spaces where people live and work:

Baltimore Oriole — New York City

Each spring, Baltimore Orioles move north from Central America and northern South America, crossing the Gulf of Mexico and fanning out across the eastern United States. They migrate largely at night, then drop into urban tree canopy at dawn to refuel on insects, nectar, and fruit. In a city like New York, that makes parks and street trees surprisingly important stopover habitat. Through Urban Bird Treaty partnerships, efforts like Lights Out NYC have reduced nighttime building collisions during peak migration, while urban forestry initiatives have expanded native canopy that supports the insects orioles depend on. For a species moving quickly on a tight energy budget, reducing mortality and improving food availability in a dense urban stopover can make the difference between completing migration and not.

Chimney Swift — Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh 

Chimney Swifts once nested in hollow trees but came to rely almost entirely on chimneys and similar vertical structures. They migrate from the western Amazon basin to eastern North America, traveling thousands of miles and feeding continuously on aerial insects. In western Pennsylvania, Urban Bird Treaty–supported projects have funded the construction of chimney swift towers—freestanding structures that replicate the interior conditions of traditional chimneys. In the Pittsburgh region, a network of more than a hundred such towers has been installed in parks and schoolyards, creating a distributed system of nesting and roosting sites that replace habitat that has largely disappeared as old chimneys are capped or demolished.

Common Nighthawk — Chicago

Common Nighthawks migrate from South America into North America each spring, arriving in cities and open landscapes just as insect populations begin to rise. They are crepuscular aerial insectivores, feeding at dusk on flying insects, and historically nested on bare ground in open areas. In modern cities, they have shifted to flat, gravel rooftops—one of the few remaining analogs to their original nesting substrate. In Chicago, one of the original Urban Bird Treaty cities, green roof and bird-friendly building initiatives have incorporated design elements that maintain or recreate suitable rooftop habitat. These projects don’t just reduce harm; they intentionally shape the built environment to function as breeding habitat. For a species in long-term decline, that shift from incidental to intentional habitat is critical.

Prothonotary Warbler—Southeast U.S.

Prothonotary Warblers winter in Central and northern South America and migrate north into the southeastern United States, where they depend on flooded bottomland forests for breeding. They are one of the few eastern warblers that nest in cavities, often just above standing water. While strongholds like Audubon’s Beidler Forest Sanctuary in South Carolina remain critical, significant habitat also exists in managed and restored floodplains near towns along the Mississippi River. In these landscapes, restoration projects tied to community water management have reestablished wet forest conditions, and partners have installed nest box networks that dramatically increase nesting success. Their efforts show how targeted intervention -- restoring hydrology and adding nesting sites—can extend viable habitat beyond protected preserves and into managed landscapes.

Lesser Yellowlegs — California Central Valley

Lesser Yellowlegs are one of the hemisphere’s long-distance champions, migrating from across South America to the boreal wetlands in Canada and Alaska to breed. They stop along the way in shallow wetlands to feed on aquatic invertebrates. California’s Central Valley – once a vast seasonal wetland – is now cropland that feeds much of the nation. Innovative programs like BirdReturns have demonstrated how working lands can fill the gap. By paying rice farmers to temporarily flood fields during peak migration windows, the program creates precisely timed habitat that aligns with birds’ arrival. Tens of thousands of acres of shallow water habitat can be created in a given year, transforming agricultural landscapes into critical stopover sites. This work highlights the complementary role of Farm Bill–style conservation alongside community-based efforts.

Taken together, these examples make a larger point. Migration depends on continuity throughout the hemisphere -- a chain of usable habitats spanning continents. Farm Bill-style programs help create that habitat at scale on working lands. The Urban Bird Treaty model, and the expansion proposed in H.R. 3276, ensures that cities and communities can do their part as well.