| What is a Neotropical Migratory Bird?
Much like the human "snowbirds" who flock to Arizona every winter, many of their feathered counterparts travel south as well. Birds that breed in the United States and Canada, but winter south of the United States/Mexico border are known as neotropical migratory birds.
Approximately 238 of the more than 500 species of birds found in Arizona are neotropical migrants. While not all neotropical migrants breed in Arizona, they comprise well over half of the nearly 300 species of breeding birds in the state. They include familiar birds such as hummingbirds, swallows, warblers, and orioles.
What is Partners in Flight?
Partners In Flight is an international cooperative program of agencies, organizations, and individuals committed to conserving our neotropical migratory birds. Arizona Partners in Flight is a subgroup of this international program. Its goal is to maintain healthy populations of neotropical migratory birds and their habitats in Arizona and adjacent lands in Mexico.
Why Do Some Birds Migrate?
Birds need to eat more to maintain body heat when temperatures drop during the fall and winter. However, they have less time to forage because winter days are shorter. Most neotropical migrants eat a variety of insects and spiders, which are not as abundant here in the winter. By migrating, birds can feast on them all summer on their breeding grounds and all winter in the tropics.
Where Do Neotropical Migrants Go?
Most migrants that breed in the West spend the winter in northern and western Mexico, while eastern breeders tend to winter mainly in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
What Are Migration Corridors?
Arizona's rivers and isolated mountain ranges or "sky islands" provide relief to neotropical migrants passing through the state's arid landscape. The lush vegetation of a riparian corridor or sky island stopover provides food and cover for the weary travelers. The San Pedro River is one of the better examples of a migration corridor in Arizona.
Why Are Fewer Birds Migrating?
Migrating birds face a tough journey between their winter and summer homes. Unfortunately, studies have shown that fewer birds are surviving to make this extraordinary trip each year. Not only do they face natural perils such as storms, predation, and drought, they now contend with ever increasing human caused threats. These threats include contamination from pesticides, herbicides, and industrial pollution. Birds are also losing their homes and migration stop-overs through timber harvesting, urbanization, grazing, and farming.
Land management practices that "fragment" habitat into smaller, more isolated patches, make it easier for predators and cowbirds to find nests of other species. Cowbirds parasitize these nests by laying their eggs in them. This leaves the "foster parents" to raise cowbird young at the expense of their own.
What Does All This Mean To You?
More than you might think. Migratory birds are integral parts of our culture, heritage, and economy. Their arrival and departure heralds the changing seasons, and their beauty adds to our quality of life. They play vital roles in our environment by controlling insect populations, spreading seeds, and pollinating flowers. Their sensitivity to declines in environmental quality makes them useful as an early warning system for human welfare. The great diversity of neotropical migratory birds found in Arizona attracts thousands of birdwatchers each year, pumping millions of dollars into the state's economy.
What Are Arizona Partners in Flight Members Doing to Help?
Cooperating Agencies & Organizations
Arizona Game and Fish Department
Arizona State Parks
Arizona's consulting firms
Arizona's National Audubon Society Chapters
Arizona's state universities
The Nature Conservancy, Arizona Chapter
National Biological Service
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
National Park Service
Navajo Natural Heritage Program
Salt River Project
U.S. Air Force
U.S. Army
U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs
U.S. Bureau of Land Management
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
U.S. Forest Service
The future of Arizona Partners in Flight depends largely on public support and involvement. You can help!
To learn more, write:
Arizona Partners in Flight
Arizona Game and Fish Dept.,
Nongame Branch
2221 W. Greenway Road,
Phoenix, Arizona 85023
To subscribe to the FREE Partners in Flight Newsletter write to the:
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
1120 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 900
Washington, D.C. 20036
The Arizona Game and Fish Department complies with all provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you need this material in an alternative format or believe you have been discriminated against, contact the Deputy Director, Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2221 W. Greenway Road, Phoenix AZ 85023, (602) 789-3000. |
