# Talk:Bird migration

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This article is the subject of an educational assignment at Washington University supported by  the Wikipedia Ambassador Program during the 2012 Fall term. Further details are available on the course page.
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 This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Gld44.
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I'm wondering if people know the status of research for birds that use the night sky to navigate, orienting themselves by the rotation of the celestial sphere ([1],[2])? It should probably be added - this isn't my field, though. SamuelRiv (talk) 16:17, 29 August 2010 (UTC)

Good idea!  We at WP:BIRD will try to work something in. MeegsC | Talk 00:17, 30 August 2010 (UTC)
Nocturnal migration would certainly be an interesting subject.  My layman's understanding is that it has more to do with weather patterns and magnetite bird navigation (essentially the same as daytime navigation) -- but I could be wrong. ~E 74.60.29.141 (talk) 19:55, 26 September 2012 (UTC)
Additional terminology needed, e.g.: 

Neotropical migration — see: Neotropical Migratory Bird Basics, (Smithsonian, National Zoological Park)
Nocturnal migration — see: Nocturnal Migrant Flight Call Research, (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) ~E 74.60.29.141 (talk) 17:46, 26 September 2012 (UTC)
Hmm, if birds fly around the clock, then part of the journey is at night, but the fact that they fly (and make flight calls) at night doesn't make for a separate subject, nocturnal migration, unless there's more to it than that. As for the tropical, etc, yes, the article probably needs to be more global in scope. Chiswick Chap (talk) 13:26, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

It seems a terrible pity that this article is still not a GA. I've marked up the uncited paragraphs ... quite a few. The coverage is quite good, however, and the writing of good quality, mostly. Anyone fancy joining me in a collective Good Article push? Chiswick Chap (talk) 10:35, 24 March 2013 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:Bird migration/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs) 10:38, 9 September 2014 (UTC)

I propose to take on this review. On preliminary inspection, it looks a thoroughly competent article. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 10:38, 9 September 2014 (UTC)

A few points:
Both the first two sentences in the lead are complex sentences which I consider have too many clauses before getting to the main verb.
reworded.
"... risks of the migration such as predation. Predation can be ..." - Better not to repeat the word "predation" in this way.
done.
Now that bird common names are no longer capitalised in Wikipedia, perhaps you should do likewise. I will note the examples I notice here: swallow, (eastwards!), red knot, dunlin, blue grouse, American goldfinch, Arctic tern, Arctic tern again, Manx shearwater, Bar-tailed Godwit, Griffon Vulture, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Cedar Waxwing, Bar-tailed Godwit again, Osprey, Honey Buzzard, Canada Geese, Whooping Crane,
I think these have all been done now.
Bar-headed geese needs a capital!
done.
In the section "Long-distance migration" several birds have no scientific names whereas previously you have assiduously provided these.
done.
"... feeding sites is a barrier to may also be a barrier" - Muddled sentence.
fixed.
"...forage less on migration" - perhaps "during" for clarity.
done.
"...move further to the coast or to a more southerly region." - Perhaps "towards".
done.
Where did the red crossbill irruptions occur?
England stated.
"This is termed as protandry." Is the "as" necessary? Do you think this paragraph could be better expressed in layman's terms?
reworded.
"With experience they learn various landmarks ..." - The rest of this paragraph is talking about a bird in the singular.
changed to singular.
What has the sentence about "watchpoints" got to do with vagrancy?
reworded.
"- usually once a year but sometimes two -" - Maybe "twice"?
done.
"Considerable interest has been taken ..." - Into what?
reworded.
Why is "Emlen funnel" bolded?
removed. Chiswick Chap (talk) 13:44, 16 September 2014 (UTC)
I have now finished the first reading. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 09:02, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
@Cwmhiraeth: All comments actioned. Chiswick Chap (talk) 14:15, 16 September 2014 (UTC)


### GA criteria
The article is well written and complies with MOS guidelines on prose and grammar, structure and layout. The suggestions I made above have been implemented
The article uses many reliable third-party sources, and makes frequent citations to them. I do not believe it contains original research. 
The article covers the main aspects of the subject and remains focussed. 
The article is neutral. 
The article is stable. 
The images are relevant and have suitable captions, and are either in the public domain or properly licensed. 
Final assessment - I believe this article reaches the GA criteria and I would like to congratulate the nominator on an excellent article. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 10:54, 18 September 2014 (UTC)
Thank you very much. Chiswick Chap (talk) 13:07, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

Should this article cover moult migration as well? --Artman40 (talk) 13:23, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Yes, why not, an interesting minor aspect in species like the shelduck. There are plenty of reliable sources. Go right ahead. Chiswick Chap (talk) 14:09, 8 October 2014 (UTC)
But where to find the sources to work with?  --Artman40 (talk) 15:26, 11 October 2014 (UTC)
You're kidding, right? Well, a library; JSTOR; the Internet; bird journals. Chiswick Chap (talk) 16:32, 11 October 2014 (UTC)
Shelduck are not the only animals to migrate before moulting. Many birds migrate to reeded areas and other wetlands. Just reliable sources are needed. --Artman40 (talk) 22:25, 11 October 2014 (UTC)
You are free to seek examples as you please; finding sources is the normal and principal work of Wikipedia editors, that's what we do here. Shelduck are however certainly the best known example. Chiswick Chap (talk) 08:00, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

The following has been proposed: "Around 3000 BC, Kalidasa tells about the 'valaha' birds going back to Manasarovar from south India in the shape of a garland after breeding." This doesn't seem exactly to be supported by the source as translated; possibly it's clearer in another translation or in the original. Help appreciated. Chiswick Chap (talk) 15:51, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

Per a Tropical Wildlife Ecology class assignment, me and a group of fellow students have been assigned the task of expanding the topic of altitudinal migration into its own wikipedia page. A rough draft of the information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Larharmon/sandbox. Any feedback about what needs to be added, or any editing tips, would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Larharmon (talk) 14:48, 23 October 2014 (UTC)

Please find out how to do referencing nicely for a scientific article - read some Featured Articles such as Immune system to see how they do it. Here's one, placed in 'nowiki' tags so it appears here as if being edited: <ref>{{cite journal |author=Plotkin SA |title=Vaccines: past, present and future |journal=Nature Medicine |volume=11 |issue=4 Suppl |pages=S5–11 |date=April 2005 |pmid=15812490 |doi=10.1038/nm1209}}</ref> There are many allowable styles of citation; this one with the 'cite' template is tidy, systematic and comprehensive. If you go to your 'Preferences' menu item and select 'Gadgets', then check 'refToolbar' under 'Editing', you will get a 'cite' button on your editing toolbar that makes this easy. Chiswick Chap (talk) 17:09, 23 October 2014 (UTC)
The referencing will definitely be fixed before the page goes live! Thank you for the sources; they're very helpful. I'm sorry that the current referencing system is rough right now, we were focused on expanding the information and gathering our sources. Again, thank you so much for the sources, and for the feedback. Larharmon (talk) 17:03, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

Sorry about adding to the page without having a consensus on whether it is appropriate material, I am new to wikipedia. I was just wondering if everyone thought it would be a good idea to elaborate on the conservation of migratory birds. I attempted to do that, but someone keeps erasing it. Anyway, I wanted to add how there are many organizations across the western hemisphere that work in collaboration with each other to conserve migratory birds and their habitats. I want to link this page to the Bird Day page because I think it is helpful for readers to have examples of what kind of things are going on in an effort to conserve these great birds.
what do the osprey live how they migration (added 21:43, 18 December 2014‎ by 72.218.167.212)

I see the following text (which actually contains a citation, if not elegantly formatted) has been cut from the article:

/* Bird Migration Festivals */
Bird migrations are celebrated through activities and festivals across the globe. One of the largest of these events, International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD), highlights the migrations of hundreds of bird species in the Western Hemisphere. International Migratory Bird Day was created in 1993 to highlight the threats to migratory bird populations, to increase public awareness of migratory birds, and to motivate public participation in their conservation. Visit International Migratory Bird Day [3] for more information.
Clearly the contributor did not put this too well; there may be a CoI involved, and it looks like an advert as well. However, it is (surely) a valid aspect of the subject, along with human fascination with migration through the centuries; the phenomenon of bird tourism, with birders gathering (I'll try to avoid puns here) at major coastal sites during migration periods to watch the migrants arrive; the establishment of observatories at sites like Dungeness, Portland Bill, Skokholm to study them in detail. In that context, the bird day might seem a necessary element of the topic. Perhaps there is material here to build a substantial and informative section of the article. All the best, Chiswick Chap (talk) 09:02, 17 January 2015 (UTC)

There is a map with the caption: "Migration routes and countries with illegal hunting in Europe." There are several problems with it.
1) The map shows Europe, but also parts or all of Africa, asia, and North America.
2) Countries are colored several different ways on the map. But there is no key to explain what the colors mean.
3) The migration routes themselves have no indication of what is migrating along the route.
As it stands, I don't think the map serves much purpose, for the above reasons. I recommend deleting it, unless it can be improved. GeneCallahan (talk) 21:09, 19 October 2016 (UTC)

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The section, Nocturnal migration in smaller insectivorous birds, is currently a subsection in the section: Long-distance migration. There are a couple of things that are misleading about the title and placement of this section discussing nocturnal migratory behavior in birds. Both passerines and non-passerines participate in nocturnal migration, not just 'small insectivorous birds.' For example, the American Bittern is a common nocturnal migrant in the North Eastern United States, while also being a non-passerine and not technically a small insectivorous bird. Second, nocturnal migratory behavior does not occur in Long-distance migrants alone. It also occurs in short-distance, aka facultative, migrants. An example of this would be the Black-capped Chickadee, which has been recorded giving nocturnal flight calls while making short-distance movements to account for changes in food availability or weather. Would it be possible that this section could be given a more technically accurate title, and moved to a new section, perhaps elevating it to its own section or moving it to a subsection under General Patterns? I would think an appropriate title could simply be: 'Nocturnal Migration,' or could perhaps include terms such as 'behavior,' 'ecology,' or 'strategy.' Gld44 (talk) 05:18, 7 November 2017 (UTC)Gld44
Following up on this, I completed this edit. Gld44 (talk) 15:48, 21 November 2017 (UTC)Gld44

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Regarding the statement in the fourth paragraph of this section : Look at the map (see ref-48 https://www.geese.org/gsg/Gorid.htm ) to see that the passage of brent geese via staging areas on the White sea is in fact on a direct line (arc) from Siberian breeding (summer) areas to European wintering areas. 

Hence this is not a good example of migration detours = in fact it is a good example of direct migration, stopping to use resources found en route... what say you, fellow wikipedians ? Can someone enlighten me ?  Unless there are serious  objections from you, I will delete this information and reformulate the paragraph. -- jw (talk) 21:44, 20 January 2021 (UTC)
Can someone please provide a valid example of this 'detour' phenomenon ? -- jw (talk) 21:44, 20 January 2021 (UTC)
Hi Jwikip, recall that the world is round. The most direct route on the surface of a sphere is a great circle, which will appear as a curve on rectangular map projections. On the map here, you can see at once that the "arc" from Taymyr to the Netherlands does not hug the coast. The example is valid. Hope this helps. All the best, Chiswick Chap (talk) 21:57, 20 January 2021 (UTC)
hello Chiswick Chap yes ... I am aware of and admit to not mentioning the 'great circle' argument above. IMO the paragraph ought to (at least) explain exactly how the example is valid. Note also that the difference between the great circle from Waddenzee or western France to  Taymyr and the actual coast/wetlands-hugging route used by the geese is (only) of the order of 6-10% ... and if we take a neighbouring population of the same species breeding somewhat nearer than Taymyr, this reduces to only ~3%. I confirm that I intend to -1- improve the formulation and -2- find and document a more convincing example of a detour ... probably B. bernicla nigricans would be interesting (~60%). I'll propose it here first. -- jw (talk) 09:39, 21 January 2021 (UTC)
OK. What is actually needed is a source that specifically discusses detours, and we must in that case use the detour(s) discussed by the source. Chiswick Chap (talk) 09:46, 21 January 2021 (UTC)
hello Chiswick Chap et al., after much delay I have made some modifications, regarding B. bernicla bernicla. I hope you approve! I note that - -1- I don't actually have a source that discusses detours per se so I added a good one (IMO) which details the flyways for all three subspecies of the brent goose. -2- I may later include the example of B.b/nigricans. -3- My previous point about B.b.bernicla was (and still is) that this subspecies is not a good example of a detour, as they are simply following short routes from one wetland staging/feeding area to the next; they are unable to fuel a direct flight of 4000+ km. Perhaps the article should say this clearly! rather than quoting B.b.b as a good example of a migrationary detour. jw (talk) 22:33, 8 December 2021 (UTC)

Hi, I made a couple of illustrations demonstrating the difference between chaing migration and leapfrog. I don't want to "push" them here as I've made them so I'm just letting you know. Feel free to use them if you like. Cheers, --Podzemnik (talk) 03:27, 21 January 2022 (UTC)