By now, most of Georgia’s 54 species of Neotropical birds — tanagers, thrushes, buntings, swallows, vireos, warblers and others — that nested here in the spring are already ensconced in Latin America or are well on their way there for the winter.
At the same time, several species that nested up north are coming into the state to spend the cold season here. They are Georgia’s “winter birds” — cedar waxwings, yellow-rumped warblers, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, several sparrow species and others.
Some of the incoming migrants, however, are the kin of species that inhabit Georgia year-round — Eastern bluebirds, American robins, Eastern towhees and others. The migratory groups nest up north but come to Georgia and elsewhere in the Southeast for the winter. When they arrive, they intermingle with the year-round residents and cause local populations of their species to swell.
In particular, thousands of bluebirds from up north migrate to Georgia for the winter, especially those born and raised in southern Canada and the Northeast. In some areas, bluebird populations may increase by 100% during the winter due to the influx of the northern birds.
It’s not clear why bluebirds up north migrate while those in Georgia and elsewhere in the Southeast stay home for the winter. But frigid temperatures, freezing rain and scarcity of food up north likely are triggers for bluebird migrations in the fall.
Bluebirds migrate in flocks, which tend to stay together all winter long, perhaps joined by some of the local birds.
Another well-known winter migrant that joins its year-round counterparts in the South during the cold season is the American robin. Most robins breeding in the interior of Canada and the northern U.S. overwinter in the South. When they return north in the spring to nest, they are among the first birds to arrive there after winter’s cold, thus becoming the classic harbingers of spring.
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The Orionid meteor shower reaches a peak of 20 meteors per hour this weekend in the eastern sky. Best viewing is from about midnight to dawn. The moon will be last quarter on Monday. Mars rises out of the east just after dark. Jupiter is high in the south at sunset. Saturn is in the southwest just after dark.
Charles Seabrook can be reached at charles.seabrook@yahoo.com.
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