Migration Central
Adventures with animals on the move
Discover and enjoy the frontiers of animal migration. In this sampling of essays and lessons from across the seasons, you’ll find everything from dragonflies to Snow Geese — even a tiny caterpillar on the move right now. I’ll be adding more to this resource at migration continues, including updates to some of these posts. So check back now and then.
Autumn
Watching Hawks
Bryan's lesson watching the raptor migration, which is getting underway now (mid September).
Solving Shorebirds
A primer on shorebird identification for landlocked birdwatchers, particularly when we find them in late summer and early fall.
Crazy Stuff Birds Eat
Fruits power a songbird south in fall, even birds that otherwise thrive on insects.
Snow Goose Scoop
Starting in October, I'll track the migration of Snow Geese through Vermont, New York and beyond.
Snowy Owl Scoop
Starting in late October, I'll report on Snowy Owls moving south from the Arctic into the U.S. and Canada.
Dragonfly Swarms
Those mobs of airborne dragonflies you're seeing are either on the hunt or in migration. Here’s the scoop on dragonfly swarms.
Going Nuclear
How a single neutron can tell us where a migrating dragonfly came from.
Monarch Migration Update
Tracking an impressive Monarch butterfly migration this fall, with reports of huge numbers so far in September.
Caterpillar Acrobatics
A migrating caterpillar? Well, in a way. But also watch it does heroic acrobatics.
Spring
Shadows and Sex
You don't need Punxsutawney Phil to know which way the wind blows. Groundhog Day ain't about shadows. It's about sex. Birds and rodents are beginning a season of foreplay.
Migration Misfits
Pick your favorite sign of spring: squirrels mating, mud oozing, maples flowering. Mine is a vulture soaring. But more than being a vernal messenger, the Turkey Vulture topples simplistic notions of migration.
When Songbirds Fall to Earth
Delivered from the fog, the grace and irony of tired warblers feeding at my feet on Monhegan Island, Maine.
The Falcon and the Flycatcher
Here on Monhegan Island, a flycatcher dies in a falcon's grip, and then falls gracefully to earth. A normal day during spring migration.
Red Alert
Not specifically about migration, but here's a lesson on the early-spring arrival of red across northern forests.
