GOLDEN PLOVER

Everybody knows that birds migrate. In fact, people use the disappearance and then the re-appearance of certain birds as a sort of way of telling the change of seasons. But no one fully understands why birds make such long journeys.

We cannot explain it by difference of temperature alone. The feathery coats birds have could protect them very well against the cold. Of course, as cold weather comes there is a lack of food for the birds, and this may explain their flight to places where it can be found. But then why do they migrate north again in the spring? Some experts think there is a connection between the change in the climate and the breeding instinct.

For whatever reason they migrate, birds certainly are the champions of all migrating animals. And the champions among the birds are the arctic terns. These amazing birds will travel in the course of a year, going back and forth, as much as 22,000 miles!

The tern nests over a wide range, from the Arctic Circle to as far south as Massachusetts. It takes this bird about 20 weeks to make its trip down to the antarctic region, and it averages about 1,000 miles a week.

Most land birds make rather short hops during their migrations. But one bird, the American golden plover, makes a long nonstop flight over the open ocean. It may fly from Nova Scotia directly to South America, a distance of about 2,400 miles over water without a stop!

Do birds start and end their migrations on exactly the same day each year? A great deal has been written about this and many people believe it happens. But no birds actuary begin their migration the same day each year, though there are some who come pretty close to it. The famous swallows Cpistrano, California, are supposed to leave on October 23 and return on March 19. Despite all the publicity about it, their date of departure and arrival has been found to vary from year to year.