Imagine taking a family cross-country road trip and not having a single gas station, hotel or restaurant on your route. The trip would be unpleasant or possibly even fatal. Right now millions of birds are migrating cross-country or cross-continent to their breeding grounds. Most cannot fly the entire trip non-stop. They rest and feed along the way. The places they stop are called stopover sites or staging areas.
Stopover sites are any strategically located places along the way that provide an adequate food supply for the quick replenishment of fat reserves, shelter from predators and water. It could be a farm field, pond, lake, wetland, forest, or even an urban yard designed with migrating birds in mind. Some birds may only need to stop for a day to rest and feed. Others might stay at a stopover area for weeks to top off their fat stores for the remainder of the journey.
Stopover habitats are essential to successful bird migrations. Urban development and land use changes can reduce or eliminate these staging areas. As more habitat is lost, it becomes increasingly difficult for exhausted migrants to find suitable areas to rest and refuel. Not only might more birds die during migration, but habitat loss and fragmentation can also reduce nesting success. Birds heading north have a fleeting amount of time available to get to the breeding grounds, establish a territory, pair with a mate, and raise young. Late arrival, or arrival in poor condition because of inadequate food and rest en route, is likely to jeopardize a bird's ability to reproduce.
What can you do to ensure that birds have a great trip?
- Volunteer and assist the Colorado Division of Wildlife and conservation organizations such as Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, Audubon, Ducks Unlimited, and others in restoring and protecting habitat.
- Think about landscaping your property for the birds! A diversity of habitat encourages a larger variety of birds. Landscape your yard with native trees, shrubs and grasses. Design the garden so that plants flower and fruit throughout spring, summer and fall.
- Having a source of water (especially a moving source) can help attract more migratory birds. Providing water can be as simple as putting out a bird bath or as complicated as installing a pond with a creek and waterfall.
- Reduce or eliminate the use of herbicides, fungicides and pesticides that can be lethal to birds.
- If appropriate for your situation, put out bird feeders, seed and nectar feeders during peak migration times. Remember that bird feeders can attract other wildlife and should be taken inside at night if you live in an area with bears.