by Megan Hart, Park Biologist

Cold days and decreasing sunlight means one thing to a migratory bird—it’s time to go back south! Not all birds in Ohio migrate, but the ones that do often travel impressive distances of hundreds and up to thousands of miles twice a year! Every year, these migrants make the trek to their breeding grounds for the summer when the weather is warm and the food is abundant to raise their young. Then with the plentiful days of summer behind them, it’s time to prepare for the journey back to their wintering grounds where the weather is milder and more food awaits them. 

White-throated sparrow

Migration is a physically demanding task for birds. During the time before migration, birds must spend the majority of their time feeding to increase their fat reserves so they can travel the long distances back to wintering grounds (which can be as far as the tip of South America). As birds migrate, these fat reserves are used quickly and need to be replenished by stopping in areas with high food abundance known as stopover sites. These areas usually contain plenty of native fruiting trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and grasses, which provide high quality food sources. Seed-eating birds like many sparrows and finches will find a plentiful supply of food as the wildflower season comes to a close and plants like purple coneflowers and black-eyed Susans are full of nutritious seeds. Birds like yellow-rumped warblers and Baltimore orioles may be found feasting on the ripened fruits of dogwoods, grape vines and poison ivy. Insect-eating birds, such as swallows and flycatchers, also enjoy a generous feast from the remaining insect bounty including mosquitoes, gnats and midges still active as days become shorter and temperatures cool.

Yellow-rumped warbler

Natural areas near the shore of Lake Erie provide beneficial stopover sites to both summer residents preparing to migrate (such as the yellow warbler and gray catbird) and passersby (including Bonaparte’s gull and white-throated sparrow) that stake their claims in places further north for the summer and overwinter further north as well. 

Fall migration starts a bit earlier than what we think of as the actual fall season. By late June and July, shorebirds and early songbirds like Louisiana waterthrush are already on the move back south after fledging their young. In September, small birds like warblers, hummingbirds, and flycatchers move through the area. October brings sparrows passing through in large numbers and turkey vultures gliding south to warmer areas. Mid-October starts the grouping of ducks on inland lakes and ponds like Granger Pond at Veterans Park. By November, chilly north winds start up and tundra swans, common loons, red-breasted mergansers, and other diving birds return to Lake Erie. In fact, some birders have observed flocks of around 250,000 red-breasted mergansers gathering on the lake in November, which is amazing to behold. 

Common loon

Lake Metroparks operates six parks (Arcola Creek Park in Madison Township, Lakeshore Reservation in North Perry Village, Lake Erie Bluffs in Perry Township, Painesville Township Park in Painesville Township, Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park in Fairport Harbor and Lakefront Lodge in Willowick) on the Lake Erie shore—all complete with the essential elements of stopover habitats.