Migrating birds – Canada Geese in their typical v-formation.
Spring is getting closer, which means that soon it will be time that birds migrate north to the Rocky Mountains. Do you know when those birds start their long or short journeys back to their summer range?
As I’ve talked about in the past all animals, including birds have different strategies to survive winter in the Rocky Mountains. The main strategies are hibernation, adaptation, or migration. Most birds choose to migrate, either going long or short distances to a more favorable area for them to live and find food. Once winter comes to a conclusion all of those birds that left start returning again to feed and mate. That means at some point they make the decision to begin their migration north again.
Types Of Migration
Migration can mean very different things. The two main types of migration that birds undertake is a complete or partial migration.
Complete migrators may travel from the Rocky Mountains to Central America or South America. A good example of complete migrator is the Swanson’s Hawk, which travels thousands of miles in its migration.
Partial Migrators are those birds that move short distances. Maybe they just move to lower elevations or down to the wide, warmer valleys to pass the summer. Partial migration may also mean that some of the birds may migrate and others may not.
When Do Birds Migrate North?
Now the big question of when do birds being their journey north back to the Rocky Mountains. Obviously, that time depends partially on how far they have to travel with those traveling farther leaving earlier. Here are a few examples of when the birds migrate north or begin arriving back north.
Swanson’s Hawk – These birds travel very long distances. The first of these birds begin arriving back in the Rockies in the spring in late March or early April.
A beautiful Red-Tailed Hawk.
Red-Tailed Hawk – These birds are partial migrators, with some of them not migrating and others migrating. For those that migrated over winter, they begin heading back north in February.
Hummingbirds – Most of the hummingbirds in North America migrate to central America. When they return north in the spring they start their journey as early as January. They may travel for a few months not arriving in the northern parts of North America until May at the latest.
These are just a few examples of birds migrate north in the springtime. It seems that most birds begin arriving back in North America and the Rocky Mountains between March and May.