Bird migrations in full swing

As winter approaches, the start of migration season begins for some of Nebraska’s bird species.  

Over 40% of the world’s birds migrate, with the Northern Hemisphere containing the majority of them. 

North America is split into four migration flyways used by birds, including the Pacific, Central, Mississippi and Atlantic. Nebraska falls into the Central.  

When bird migrations start is not always predictable, but the drivers are believed to be lower temperatures, food supply deficiencies and genetic push, according to Cornell Lab. 

Bird migrations can be split into three categories short, medium and long distance. 

Short distance includes the changing of elevations based on season and medium distance includes migrations that are a hundreds of miles.

 Long distance migrations often cover entire countries, like the Whooping Crane migration from Texas to Canada, according to Cornell Lab.  

Some bird species do not migrate, according to the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation,  including scavenging prey bird, woodpeckers, owls, game birds, tits, chickadees and corvids, with exceptions within each group.   

According to Nebraska Ornithology Union, there are 465 species of birds in Nebraska, 334 of which occur in Dawes County. 

Millions of birds will stop in ‘bottleneck’ of the Central Flyway, which includes Nebraska during migratory seasons.

Waterfowl species such as the Whooping Crane, Sandhill Crane, Canada Goose, Trumpeter Swans, Hooded Merganser and Bufflehead, travel the Central Flyway each year, using Nebraska’s wetlands as stopping points, according to Nebraska Audubon Society.

Small bird species, like the Gray Catbird, Plumbeous and some American Robins use Nebraska as breeding grounds and migrate between other states. 

Although some bird species like shorebirds began migrating in July. Hawks and warblers begin migrating in September and October through Nebraska. Waterfowl like Snow Geese and loons, Bald Eagles, gulls, winter finches like Evening Grosbeak and Common Redpoll and American Tree Sparrows began migrating through Nebraska .