Sixty percent of North American songbirds, 40% of the continent’s waterfowl and lots of types of shorebirds will move through St. Louis in the next couple of weeks, according to the St. Louis Audubon Society. Just last night, an approximated 4,498,500 birds crossed St. Louis County.
The birds are following the Mississippi Flyway — the biggest migratory path utilized by birds in North America. They drop in locations like St. Louis and Quincy, Illinois, since the Mississippi River is plentiful in food, shelter and breeding premises. The occasion draws another type of migration to these locations — that of bird-watchers and scientists.
“Everyone’s very excited about all of the warblers moving through, especially. Most of these warblers are going to keep moving through, heading on to the boreal forest up north,” said Tara Hohman, Conservation Science Manager for Audubon’s Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri area. “They’re bright, they’re colorful, they attract the eye of almost anyone who’s around. … They hook you immediately as a bird lover.”
She included that warblers and other songbirds can be seen in any natural location, consisting of city parks and even yards.
“While we have some great locations in our area — the [Great] Missouri Birding Trail, for instance, lists out a ton of great sites that people can see near and far within the state — even just getting started in your backyard, that’s the best way to do it,” Hohmann said. “Then, venture from some of your city parks to some of your surrounding natural areas. It’s really easy to get out there and find a community and birders. And they’re really easy to spot because they all have cameras or binoculars, and they’re more than happy to share information with you.”
Hohmann signed up with Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air to go over pointers for bird-watching this spring, the hazards dealing with lots of bird types taking a trip through the location and what individuals can do to help rejuvenate bird environment in the area. Hear the discussion on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast or Stitcher or by clicking the play button listed below.
Tara Hohmann shares bird-watching pointers for this month’s spring bird migration
Related Event
What: Spring migration
When: Mid-April to mid-May
Where: Across the St. Louis area, especially in locations along the Mississippi River
Did you understand: Exterior glass, whether clear, tinted or reflective, is not an identifiable part of the natural world for birds. During the day, glass shows the images of trees and sky that appear to birds like a friendly flight course.
St. Louis Public Radio’s building in Grand Center is lovely, however its lots of windows threaten to birds that error the sky’s reflection for a safe location to fly. The station is raising funds to equip our whole building with bird safe window decals which will separate the reflection and avoid fatal window strikes. Click here to make a present to STLPR’s bird safety job.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and individuals who live, work and produce in our area. The program is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send concerns and remarks about this story to [email protected].
