Those tiny, 30-gram, brown birds with the enchanting song have more talents than they are typically given credit for. A recent scientific study shows these little birds can anticipate the strength of the upcoming hurricane season, giving them an advantage they sorely need during dangerous and taxing migrations. Research shows that over two decades the birds were accurate in their predictions and would be on their way south before the hurricane season was active during years with stronger storms. In milder seasons, they delayed their departures south. How do they do this?
Christopher Heckscher who led the research, thinks the effect the weather patterns have on things like the birds’ food supply at their overwintering grounds in South America gives them info on the severity of the upcoming hurricane season they will have during migration. Food supply, as an example, is one of the things that impacts migration success in numerous migrating birds. In this study, it was small changes in weather that impacted a variety of behaviors which caused the birds to time their breeding and migrations to avoid the worst seasons of storms.
Climate change is having some surprising effects on the weather. One of them is that hurricanes grow in size and strength at a much slower pace than previously, putting migrating songbirds at risk for a much longer period of time. It’s an additional unexpected challenge for Veeries who have already lost about ⅓ of their population in less than 60 years, and continue to face habitat fragmentation in the north and loss on their overwintering grounds for agriculture.
This is a fascinating study about a small nearly non-descript bird that is providing new insight into migration and behavioral changes caused by anticipated severity of hurricanes. But, one of the questions left unanswered is…do other birds do the same thing? Find out more in the article from National Geographic.