As the weather gets chillier, birds are migrating, many crossing New Hampshire on their path to warmer climates.
Hundreds of thousands of birds – warblers, tanagers, sandpipers, sparrows, hawks, even ducks – are crossing the state on a daily basis. They’re making their way to South and Central America, the Caribbean, Florida, sometimes stopping over in New Hampshire on a longer journey from Northern Canada.
Many fly at night. But for those with sharp eyes and the right perch, raptors can be spotted during the day, especially at high elevations.
It’s a time of year when bird enthusiasts can see species that aren’t often in the area. But migration is also one of the most dangerous parts of a bird’s life, says Grace McCulloch with the New Hampshire Audubon.
“It’s where we see the greatest mortality. That is because it’s so energetically expensive to travel those great distances,” she said.
Take the blackpoll warbler, which nests in high-elevation forests in New Hampshire. It puts on twice its body weight in fat before making its journey to the Caribbean. The flight is about 72 hours, direct, no layovers.
For birds that do stopover, humans and their lives can pose a challenge. Building lights that remain on can disturb birds. They often collide with windows because they can’t see the glass. They may encounter new predators, like cats.
“Birds are moving through areas that at one time was a more natural habitat, and it would be a great stopover place for migration, but now are more developed areas that pose risks,” McCulloch said.
Birds may have particularly difficult migrations if they encounter extreme storms or hurricanes like Helene. As climate change fuels stronger storms, those can disrupt migration patterns, causing birds to stay in certain areas for longer, move later in the season, or risk mortality moving during a hurricane.
McCulloch says people can keep cats indoors, turn off lights at night, and put decal stickers or paint patterns on windows to help keep birds safe. Markings should be close together – about two inches apart – to show birds they can’t fly through the glass. People can also show birds they can’t fly through the windows in other ways, like by closing curtains
Creating nice places for birds to rest and refuel can also help.
“You can leave plants like goldenrod out into the fall, and those have great insects,” she said. “Our seed producing plants are a great source of food at this time.”
To see which birds are expected to migrate throughout the rest of the fall and how many cross the state each night, Granite Staters can use Cornell’s BirdCast.
