“The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.’ Joseph Campbell An Introductory note: Seasonal migration is one of the most fascinating and miraculous feats of the animal world. At this very moment it is occurring all over our planet in the air, sea and by land. Our planet is a living and breathing entity. It has daily, monthly, biannual and yearly rhythms that all interweave with and are an intricate part of the wonderous Web of Life. Indigenous peoples everywhere are much more attuned to the heartbeat of nature and their environment. They know instinctively that they are only a part of the web of life and are taught to respect and revere it. Because of this, they know who they are and what their purpose in life is. Since I was a young child, nature has always been a fulcrum for me both in the exploration of the world around me, but also the world inside me. My wish for you is that you experience Nature as the miraculous gift it is and that it stimulates in you the sense of wonder and the most essential of all questions, what is my purpose on this most unique of planets. This blog is about a few of the many migrants I observe from where I live in Ipswich, MA, a coastal town north of Boston. By the middle of August, the three necessary and indispensable native plants needed for the annual bird and insect migration south, are in place up and down the Atlantic coastline. They are the aster, goldenrod and jewel weed. Think of these three plants as the McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts, (a well-known donut business in New England), of the highway. They can be found easily and reliably up and down the entire eastern coastline which is the major migratory highway, called a flyway, for our hummingbirds, songbirds and monarch butterflies. You might think that August is a tad bit too early for migration south since humans in this area consider the summer season to be at its peak in August. However, it is not by the human calendar that species decide when to migrate. All migrating species know when to journey south both by an internal biological calendar, including hormones, and triggers in the environment like sensing the decline of daylight. Depending on the species the journey could be a short, medium or a long distance migration. Why and how animals migrate? Humans have pondered the whys and hows of migration for thousands of years. We now have a better understanding of migration, although, many questions about how animals navigate still remain a mystery. Scientist believe that animals, birds and Monarchs use a combination of olfactory, celestial navigation and earth’s magnetic fields as a compass to navigate during migration. Researchers are still trying to determine specifically how migrating animals use this information. We know that animals and insects move between two locations to take advantage of better seasonal habitats. Climate, where an area is too hot or too cold during part of the year, is a major determining factor for migration. Climate also determines whether there are food sources for animals. In many parts of the world, such as New England, food sources are only seasonally available. If there is no food available, animals either need to hibernate, adapt to the cold in other ways or migrate to habitats where food sources are plentiful. In New England, as our temperatures become increasingly colder, our growing season ends usually by mid fall or the first frost. Our annual flowers die and our perennial flowers die back to the ground to their annual winter hibernating form. At the same time, our insects, because there is no longer pollen or nectar from flowers, have taken shelter and are hibernating under leaves, in the ground, in hollow stems, in logs or behind the bark of trees. There, in adult, larval or egg form, they evade the cold. Without insects, birds and other animals that depend on the protein insects provide, must migrate to other habitat. One of the first migrants in my area heading south is the male hummingbird. By the middle or end of July his breeding period is complete and with that, he migrates south. At that time, in my area of Massachusetts, the mature females are sitting on their second and last nest of the season. The new chicks from their first clutch of eggs have fledged and are busily collecting nectar from the local flowers and our hummingbird feeders. This year in August I had so many new fledglings, that some days I was filling my two hummingbird feeders 3 times a day! The female hummers will be the next to fly south as soon as their second clutch of chicks are mature enough to leave the nest and collect nectar for themselves. That is usually from the middle to the end of August. And finally, the first and second batches of this year’s new hummingbirds, after they have gorged themselves and increased their weight by 25 – 40%, will start the migration south. They will carry this extra weight in the form of fat. It will be stored in special pouches under the skin of their breast and wings. These new hatchlings will leave my gardens in the last weeks of August. By the first two weeks of September, even with my resident hummers now gone, my hummingbird feeders will still be busy with new migrants every day that arrive from lands north of me, as they too head south. Usually by the middle of September I will be saying goodbye to the last few stragglers of the season. It is always a sad day when I take down my hummingbird feeders, clean them and store them away for the next year. Those little acrobatic jewels have been daily companions of mine throughout the summer and their delightful antics will be sorely missed during the long, cold days of our New England winter. Some interesting facts about migrant hummingbirds: It is about 2,500 miles from New England to their winter home in Central America. They average flying about 23 miles a day. Those hummers who have traveled the migration route before, will remember the location of every hummingbird feeder and every patch of flowers they have previously encountered. And, of course, there is the bountiful supply of asters, goldenrods and jewel weeds along their migration route. With good winds, it will take them up to 22 hours of non-stop flight over the Gulf of Mexico. I never cease to marvel that with their BB sized brains, they know the migration route to Central America, even if they were just born this year and this is the first time migrating south! The Monarch butterfly is also preparing to fly south. Monarchs right now are fueling up on nectar preparing for the long journey south. They will migrate south while the weather is still warm so they can collect nectar to fuel their journey along their migration route to the Oyemel Fir forests in central Mexico. They start arriving to this destination about the middle of November. Once there, a journey of over 2,000 miles, they will be able to safely hibernate in the shelter of the fir forests from winter’s cold temperatures. This special generation of Monarchs that were born at the end of August and into the first weeks of September is referred to as the “Methuselah” generation. Methuselah was an Old Testament patriarch who was recorded in Genesis to have lived 969 years. This generation of Monarchs is unique in that it will live up to eight months. It is the generation that will migrate all the way to the Oyemel Fir Forest of central Mexico. This generation is the only generation of monarchs that does not sexually mature when emerging from its chrysalis. It doesn’t waste energy looking for a mate but instead uses all its energy to find nectar sources and migrate. It will be next February or March, when the weather is warm enough for the local butterfly weed plant, (Asclepias), to emerge in central Mexico, that this Monarch generation will leave the safety of the fir forests, sexually mature and find a mate. At that time the males and females from the Methuselah generation, after mating and laying eggs on the Milkweed plants as they head north, will finally die. It will take another 3-5 generations of monarchs, that live only about 2 to 6 weeks each , to finally reach Massachusetts next June or July. Interesting migration facts about Monarchs: Monarchs migrate during the day. During the migration south, Monarchs congregate during the night in large numbers called roosts. This is where they rest after a long day of traveling. Researchers have been puzzled if these roosts are a place to exchange information on travel conditions, routes or food (nectar) sources. A brief note on migrating songbirds. Basically, the birds that migrate south are those that rely on insects as the main component of their diets or have not evolved to adapt to our cold climate. Most migrations are driven primarily by the availability of food. Dozens of species of warblers, thrushes, vireos, orioles, flycatchers, tanagers, grosbeaks and many other bird species are, now and through November, in process of their migration south. They migrate mostly at night to avoid the suns drying affects and land near dawn, if they are over land. If they are over water, they continue to fly. Simply speaking, birds migrate to where the food sources are. In winter, in many habitats, the availability of insects and other food sources drop or are non-existent. In New England some of our species of birds that overwinter are the Black-capped Chickadee, Dark Eyed Junco, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Cardinal and, of course, doves and pigeons to name a few of the most common and well know species. Although these birds will eat insects during the growing seasons, they have all adapted to a winter diet that includes our native seeds, berries and sometimes nuts. Interesting note: The much maligned Poison Ivy plant is native to many parts of the United States including New England. It is an important and essential wildlife food source. Its grape like cluster of berries provide an important natural food source of much needed fat, vitamins and nutrients for our overwintering birds as well as other animals. These berries are also available for our south bound migrants.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorConsultant, designer and educator transforming commercial and residential landscapes sustainably Archives
March 2023
Categories |