1. Migration

2. Ducks Fly Together!

3. What is migration?
Regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway between breeding and wintering grounds

4. What is a flyway? Flight path used in bird migration
North America has 4
Pacific
Central
Mississippi
Atlantic

5. Why North and South? Gets cold up North during winter
Go where the resources are

6. Patterns on the trip Migration tends to follow clockwise rotation
Birds flying North stay Westward and birds flying South stay Eastward

7. The big 3
Allen, KG, Pierce

8. The big 3
Bosh, James, Wade

9. The big 3
Food, water, shelter

10. What do they eat?
Typically eat green vegetation as well as grains such as wheat, rice, and corn
Many winter in southern rice paddies
Farmers like it because they are good pest control and fertilizer

11. Why fly in the V formations?
Reduce energy by 12-20%
Can fly 5km/hr faster
Share the burden of leading
When tired, go to the back
If one goose gets hurt, 2 drop out with it until it dies or recovers

12. Communicating on the move
13 different calls that mean a variety of things
Greeting, warning, encouragement, and directions

13. How do they know when to leave?
First studied in 1795
Shortening of days causes hormonal changes
Restlessness and storage of fat
Even caged birds exhibit this behavior
Also adjust flight patterns within their enclosures

14. Navigating How do they navigate? They use the sun as a compass
Use stars at night
Landmarks like rivers, mountains, etc.
Magnetic field strength changes as latitude changes
Strength of magnetic field

15. Coming home
They often return to the same wintering and breeding grounds every fall/spring
Have surprisingly good memories.

16. Learning the Routes Geese learn where to go from older geese
Older geese are better at making adjustments to wind drift

17. What about the hurt?
If one goose gets hurt, 2 others follow it down. Stay with it until it dies or recovers
Catch back up or join new formation

18. What about the endangered?
Humans teach to fly with light aircraft
Show safe migration routes
Process used for reintroduction of species
Will know the way after one migration

19. Sleeping on the fly Sleep with one eye open Half the brain shuts off
Why do we even need sleep?

20. Lung power

21. Human tracking of migrations

22. Banding

23. Why’s tracking important