International Bird Migration Day

Magnolia Warbler male (Dendroica magnolia). An upstate NY and further north nester. Just passing through Brooklyn now …

It’s International Bird Migration Day, which was developed to educate people about the transnational lives of birds. Right now, billions of individual birds are moving from Central and South America to North America, flowing from southern hemisphere summer to northern hemisphere summer. Nations should be irrelevant to these migrants, yet we have made ourselves very relevant to birds. We are destroying habitats at both ends and in between; climate change is radically changing the boreal and arctic north, where many of these birds breed; at least, in the Americas, birds no longer have to run a gauntlet of killers as they still do in the Mediterranean. American Redstart male (Setophaga ruticilla). These birds fan their tails frequently, supposedly startling their prey.Another Redstart, showing some variation in color. This species does nest locally, although not in Kings Co.Black-throated Green female (Dendroica virens) after a bath; she doesn’t have the titular black throat. The species breeds in coniferous forests, upstate and beyond.

Audubon NYC estimates 90,000 birds die from hitting buildings in Manhattan; support their program of working with building managers to shut off the lights after midnight this month.