Bird Spring Migration

The period during which the majority of our birds return to us after the winter's absence is a time of peculiar advantage to the bird-lover. It seems good to welcome back our friends, and these pioneers give an especial thrill of pleasure. This feeling is the more enhanced because of the scarcity of birds during the winter. There is, too, a certain delight in being afield at the time when Nature is awakening, when the sun beams warm again, causing the spring aroma to arise from the fruitful earth and the early flowers modestly to open to our view. It might seem as though there were beauty enough to call people forth from their shells of sedentary employment even apart from the birds. Yet these will furnish an immediate motive without which many a ramble would be lost or postponed.

It is a fascinating no less than a healthful pursuit to "keep tab" on the arrival of the spring birds. As though realizing that it is important to make a good impression, they come arrayed in their very best garments, all of these new, and some a wedding outfit.

Everything considered, the birds are remarkably regular in their return each spring according to calendar. Each species has a certain normal time of arrival, and in most years the dates will not vary much. It seems wonderful that, with only instinct to guide, they can sense the time as nearly as they do. There is, however, some variation, depending upon the weather. Unseasonable warmth will bring the birds on prematurely, and continued cold will keep them back, or at least the majority of them. Yet even then there are often individuals in whom the instinct is so strong that they brave cold and storm and come on time. The problem of the origin and cause of migration still remains shrouded in mystery, which adds all the more interest to observation of it. It will be largely through gathering of data by many observers everywhere that we can hope to come to a better understanding of it.

The watching of the migration will give special pleasure if several observers in a locality work together. It is really very exciting to try to be the first to record the arrival of the various species. One has a sense of achievement in being the first to see and report the new appearance, especially if it is some very early or unusual one.

In the case of those who expect to go afield at this time with considerable frequency and regularity, I suggest that they write to the Bureau of Biological Survey, Washington, and secure data-blanks for recording migration. There is a column on the left where the names of species arc to be put down in the order in which they are seen. In other spaces opposite can be given the dates when first seen, when at greatest abundance, and, in the case of those proceeding further, when last noted. This will not only furnish neat and convenient stationery for one's own records, but the copy returned to the Department at the end of the season will be a real contribution to science.

Quite a number of our hardier familiar land-birds winter in the Southern States and return to their familiar nesting-haunts comparatively early in the spring. Of some of these a few individuals are occasionally seen in Northern States in winter. Such species are the robin, bluebird, song sparrow, red-winged and crow blackbirds, meadowlark, kingfisher, cedar-bird, purple finch, woodcock, and various others. But the great majority pass on to Central or South America. On the return migration in spring, some come by the all-land route, through Mexico and Texas, but more of those that reach the eastern districts prefer to fly across the Gulf of Mexico. Of these, some take the easier route through Cuba or other islands of the West Indies to southern Florida. This route affords convenient resting-places to break the long journey.