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June Feature: Birds
From the sight of thousands of shorebirds wheeling in perfectly synchronized
flight over a marsh, to the soft calling of millions of song-birds as they fly
overhead on an autumn night, or the ghostly silhouettes of geese seen passing
across a full moon, there are few natural spectacles on Earth that match the
mass migration of birds.
Not all birds migrate, but those that do perform incredible feats of physical
endurance and global navigation. The aim of most migratory birds is to find
safe nesting sites and the best source of food for the summer breeding season,
and then to return to a warmer, more hospitable habitat to over-winter. Most
birds make their first migration, often thousands of miles long, just weeks
after they have hatched. The mystery of how birds find their way to ancestral
wintering spots halfway across the globe and back again, has still not been
fully solved by scientists. Birds appear to use many clues to navigate, including
the sun, the stars, and an internal biological magnetic compass.
Learn MORE About Birds...
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