Fall Migration

By Tom Koritansky, Natural Resource Manager & John Pogacnik, Biologist

With fall approaching in northeast Ohio, another migration season will soon be upon us. Birds migrate in order to be near an abundant food supply, escape from cold temperatures and to find ideal breeding habitats. Not all birds migrate, but the ones that do often travel impressive distances of hundreds and up to thousands of miles twice a year! Our summer avian residents have had a busy season building nests and raising their young, but now that the last broods have fledged, it’s time for them to prepare to make the long journey south for the winter.

The pectoral sandpiper, which passes through Ohio during spring and fall migration, may travel up to 18,000 miles,
a flight of 9,000 miles north to the Arctic and then another 9,000 back to Argentina in the fall.

Migration is a very demanding task for birds. To complete those great journeys, birds must spend more time foraging as fall approaches in order to build their fat reserves so they can travel long distances. Birds rapidly burn up their fat reserves in migration and need to occasionally stop and refuel. Preserving high quality natural areas such as Lake Erie Bluffs not only provides nesting habitat for breeding birds, but also provides that very important area for migrating birds to stop and refuel. Native trees and shrubs such as black cherry, viburnum and dogwood, provide the most nutritious food while many of the non-native fruit lacks nutritional value and fats needed by migrating birds. Although it is difficult to control all of the invasive shrubs and trees, it is important to preserve areas with large percentages of native plants.  

Lake Erie greatly affects bird migration both positively and negatively. On the positive side, it provides a tremendous food source for migratory aquatic birds. Although Lake Erie has only two percent of all the water in the Great Lakes, it has 50 percent of the fish. Because of the abundant supply of fish in Lake Erie it is very important for migratory birds that need fish for survival. During the fall, the water temperature is often warmer than the air temperature. When the wind is out of the north and blows over the warm lake it has a moderating effect along the shoreline. This allows insects to be active later in the season providing food for birds migrating later. On the negative side, the lake is a barrier to many small birds. They would rather fly around the lake than over it where they are open to predators. This benefits wildlife watchers. Birds concentrate along the lakeshore during spring and fall migrations allowing us to see a lot more birds.

The blackpoll warbler is a bird that best demonstrates the need for refueling. During fall migration it migrates southeast to the East Coast near New England. From there it flies nonstop from New England to the northeast part of South America, a distance of 1,800 miles. They fly nonstop for three straight days, so they must be well fueled to make such a journey.

Bird migration is an amazing spectacle and we are in the perfect location to observe it at its finest. Visiting the Lake Erie Bluffs or any other parks along the lake such as Arcola Creek Park, Lakeshore Reservation, Painesville Township Park, Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park or Lakefront Lodge gives an incredible opportunity to view some of the best bird migration North America has to offer. Whether it is songbirds taking advantage of the natural habitat along the lake or watching aquatic birds as they fly along the lake, there is plenty to see. Since fall migration often starts in late June with sandpipers and continues into December with waterfowl and winter finches, there is plenty of time to get out and see many species of birds.

Birding at Lake Metroparks

Photos by John Pogacnik, Lake Metroparks Biologist