I just got back from the mangrove swamp where I've gone each morning and spotted a host of new species that has recently arrived. Huge numbers of birds have just moved into Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Scientists estimate that a grand total of 2 to 5 million individual birds take part in this biannual migration. Species which breed west of the Rocky Mountains spend the winter in northern and western Mexico.
Some eastern species travel to the islands of the West Indies and the Caribbean.
A few migratory birds fly straight to South America without stopping. The rest, or approximately one-third of the total, migrate to the Yucatan Peninsula, the southern Mexican state of Chiapus and the Peten region of Guatemala. A quick look at a map of the Western Hemisphere should reveal a clue to this question. Migration is hard work. It s no wonder that birds which fly over the Gulf of Mexico seek out the closest possible destination to land.