A peregrine falcon will have difficulty catching a pigeon during a level chase at 60 miles per hour, but this predator can probably exceed 200 miles per hour during a swoop from a greater height onto its prey. The speed of migration is quite different from that attained in forced flights for short distances. Measured as straight line distances, these journeys are impressive and indicate birds could travel from the northern United States or even from northern Canada to winter quarters in the West Indies, Central, or South America in a relatively short time. It is probable that individual birds do make flights of the length indicated and that barn swallows seen in May on Beata Island, off the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, may have reached that point after a nonstop flight of 350 miles across the Caribbean Sea from the coast of Venezuela. Radar has given us some of our best estimates of ground speeds for migrating flocks, especially at night.
Some birds appear to reduce flight speed in proportion to the degree of assistance or resistance.
The literature is in some disagreement on the flight speed of birds and the influence of wind, but good radar observations coupled with accurate measurements of winds aloft will help give us a more accurate estimate of migrating speeds for different species under varying wind conditions. The intensity of migration depends on circumstances including the need for haste. In fall the flights are more likely to be performed in a leisurely manner, so that after a flight of a few hours the birds often pause to feed and rest for one or several days, particularly if they find themselves in congenial surroundings. Some indication of this is found in the recoveries of banded birds, particularly waterfowl. If we consider only the shortest intervals between banding in the North and subsequent recovery in the South, it is found that usually a month or more is taken to cover straight-line distance of a thousand miles.