Birding Patches and Birding
If you are an avid birdwatcher then you should understand the role that birding patches play and how it can help enjoy rare sights of your favorite birds in North Dakota.
Birding Patches – A Big Help to Migrating Birds
A recent report has shown that even small birding patches have proven to offer a sanctuary of sorts for several migrating bird species as they head to their breeding grounds. These patches serve both as a source of protection and food.
Such results are critical as they show that some bird species are doing what they can to find temporary homes in highly urban areas – areas which unfortunately lack in resources that are common to their natural habitat.
Their ability to adapt is good news, according to Stephen Matthews, one of the study’s authors and who is currently a post-doctoral researcher at Ohio State University’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. He is joined by Paul Rodewald, who is an assistant professor at the same university. Both authors had produced two other related studies and one of which would be published in the Landscape Ecology Journal while the other had been recently published by The Condor.
Both studies used the Swainson’s Thrush, whose scientific name is Catharus ustulatus, as one of its subjects. This bird is a somewhat reclusive cousin to the American Robin and who spends winters mostly in South and Central America then flying past the eastern regions of the United States on their way to Canada’s boreal forests, which serve as their breeding grounds.
For the study, the pair of researches had used ninety-one Swainson’s Thrushes at a Ohio State campus woodlot. The birds taken in captive had been in the process of migration and on their way to Columbus. The researchers had then equipped the birds with radio transmitters before releasing them at one of Columbus’s wooded sites.
The transmitters allowed the researchers to monitor the birds’ activities and track their progress. The study showed that the birds had remained in the area for a considerable amount of time, proving that they had found the area relatively useful in spite of its urban development.
Without birding patches, migrating birds would have a difficult time completing their long and necessary journey.
Birding at North Dakota State Parks
Now that you know how important these patches of land are, you’ll have an easier time completing your bird watching wish list no matter where you are. But of course, you’ll enjoy more ample opportunities to observe birding activities when you visit state parks such as Turtle River and Theodore Roosevelt State Parks.
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