The rufous hummingbird has the distinction of flying. . In fact, this metaphor, in a sense, can describe migration routes themselves. This sequence of flowering plants provides migrants with sugars and amino acids to fuel their long-distance flights. In seeking out this nectar, pollinators incidentally transfer pollen from one plant to another. These nectar corridors of sequentially-flowering plants may stretch for thousands of kilometers, from Guatemala to Alaska.
Many plant communities benefit from the seasonal presence of pilgrim pollinators.
And yet, where land conversion, toxins, habitat fragmentation, or climate change weaken one link along the way, the entire chain may be broken. Because the energetic needs of migratory pollinators are highest when they are migrating 50 to 200 kilometers each day, any shortage of fuel en route can have devastating consequences. ADRE W hile flyways for migratory waterfowl and transoceanic currents navigated by sea turtles are well-documented, the corridors for most migratory pollinators are less precisely defined. Volunteers collaborating with lepidopterists have carefully tracked monarch butterfly migration from the Mississippi River watershed across the Mexican border, but only recently has monarch specialist, Dr. Robert Michael Pyle, confirmed that monarchs also cross into Mexico from Arizona. There are reports of small overwintering roosts in Baja California and noticeable monarch movements through Guaymas, Sonora in early fall.