Much about the spring and fall migrations are cloaked in mystery, from how birds know when to leave to what helps them determine exactly where they’re going.
But there’s no question about one element of their twice-a-year extreme feats of travel: the moment the birds stop for breaks, they go to work eating seeds, beetles, worms, flies, moths, bees, lizards, caterpillars, fruit, nuts, nectar, fish, spiders, snakes, suet, mice, and sometimes other birds.
The migration is a feeding frenzy.
A Yellow-rumped Warbler wrestles with an inch worm.
Dining is a vital part of the day – and a fascinating element of the journeys that four to five billion birds are in the midst of about now across the U.S. They need to eat meals that for us would be pretty much impossible.
The hummingbird, for instance, has to consume its entire weight in nectar every day. For a normal sized human, that’s the equivalent of drinking 18 gallons of milk, according to the Audubon Society.
The Chickadee has to eat about a third of its weight in seeds, berries, insects and worms daily. For us, Audubon says, that would translate into eating 600 granola bars every day.
arting at dawn they’ll form teams and scour nearby “Important Bird Areas,” counting species to help evaluate how this year’s migrating birds have fared on the flight across thousands of miles to their breeding grounds. Here are some of what they’re likely to see in a gallery of photos Anders has taken from our recent migration trip (run your cursor over the pictures for their species).
“I was fascinated by migration at a very early age,’’ said Farnsworth, who works out of New York City and oversees the lab’s 
Saturday is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s “Global Big Day,” a highlight of the spring migration when birders around the world count as many species they can find in 24 hours.
The whole point of having a birding bag like mine is to anticipate disaster and be fully prepared to deal with it. Inside there’s a tube of sunscreen, a water bottle, gum, lip balm, tissues, hand sanitizer, lens cleaners, a protein bar and dental floss. (Dental floss makes a great temporary shoestring or emergency suture, but mine’s there in case a bit of the protein bar gets stuck in my teeth.)
At long last, the highlight of the birding year – the spring migration — is just a week or two from its peak in much of the country, and so there’s a lot to talk about.
The party got us thinking of how much birding advice and wisdom there is, and also about the many people who ask us how to get started. So we sat down for a conversation with Beehler, a Smithsonian research associate at the National Museum of Natural History’s Division of Birds, whose encyclopedic new book is called,
As water levels have risen in coastal nesting places, the Spoonbills have looked elsewhere to find the unique environment they need. That in turn has helped them to spread their reach beyond heavily developed South Florida and the Everglades that had been their primary Florida breeding grounds for decades.
One year ago this month, we got a chance to witness this colony of Magnificent Frigatebirds in the midst of the birds’ unusual mating rituals. With the breeding season starting once again, we wanted to delve into a love story that’s remained relatively unchanged for millions of years. It attracted the attention of Charles Darwin when he was studying on the Galapagos Islands to get a glimpse of the origins of life.
First he inflates a gland sac in his throat so that it looks like a red, nearly heart-shaped balloon. Then he waves his head around to show off the balloon while clattering his beak. The females fly in circles overhead, reviewing their options.
“They’re very successful at raising chicks,” said Dr. Schreiber.
