I posted several weeks ago that I had my first Purple Martin with a Geolocator attached to him, arrived back at my colony. The Martin was captured, the data from the Geolocator was download and extrapolated and the migration path is now on a map!

Banding Coalition of the Americas, Kyle Shepard and Emma Rhodes did all the work for this project. The have the proper permits and licenses. This information is mind boggling to me. Man has known for a long time that Purple Martins migrate from Brazil, the North America to nest, but we didn’t suspect that the bird would take one trek south, and a completely different route on his return, but that’s what he did.

He left my house last summer and his first stop was Louisiana. From there he crossed the Gulf of Mexico and landed in the Yucatán peninsula. From there he wandered down through Central America into the northern part of Brazil.

On his return, he “island hopped” on his way north, going between Jamaica and Haiti, then across Cuba, then back up through the peninsula of FL to arrive back on the same gourd rack, in my back yard, that he left from, last July.

Could you make that trip without a map or compass? I couldn’t. We think calling someone a ”bird brain” is a derogatory comment, but God instilled an intelligence into these creatures that we can’t or don’t, grasp.

The path on the left of the map is his southern migration, and the path on the right his his northern migration route.

Very cool to see it mapped out, interesting it took different routes. Wonder if it had to do with prevailing wind currents.

That is pretty cool. Do they capture timings on how long their stops were in places, especially like how long did it spend in Brazil?

That really is amazing! I always thought they used some type of terrain mapping and they would follow certain points along the same route to go back and forth. Great information! God's work never ceases to amaze me!

In addition to the intelligence part, it’s amazing to me that they can physically travel those distances over water. No food or water presumably until they hit land. I don’t understand how they have enough calories/energy in their little bodies to do to, and on top not dehydrate. Amazing creatures.

That is super cool to be able to track them like that! But, I, too have wondered how they have the stamina to make those long flights between points of landing.

I am now curious to know if he takes the same route each year or can change it up as needed??

He may have flown with a group the first time going and returning and then uses same route??

Google says they fly between 31- 40 mph when travelling. That Gulf of Mexico leg looks close to 1000 miles. That would mean a non-stop flight of between 25 and 32 hours. How in the world???

Yes, I will update again when I find out how much time it spent in each location.

Regarding the different paths. All I know to tell y’all right now is that they use constellations to navigate. I know in the spring that they definitely use cold fronts to help them make the push north. That’s a causal observation on my part over the past 20 years. When the migration is underway, I always have varying numbers of them show up after a cold front has passed. In the fall, they may just take the path of least resistance to get there. We don’t have cold fronts that make it far enough south in late summer to really help them move south.

This bird was the first one to return to the SE with a geolocator. Another landlord in GA had some installed as well, and her first bird returned with a geo last week. It took different paths in the fall and spring as well. It jumped from Pensacola to the Yucatán on the way down. It came back on a very similar route to mine this spring.

Homing pigeons can be dropped off hundreds of miles from their home and released. They find their way back to their roost. Their brains have a built in GPS system not fully understood, The most popular theory is a two dimensional system. One part being small iron deposits in the inner ear which acts as a compass. The second part is a crude form of terrain memorization. The compass gets them close to where they want to be, then their memory kicks in for the final pinpoint location.

That is really cool. I always enjoy watching flocks of geese pass overhead and marvel at the fact they started their journey from the desolate far northern tundra or beyond.

I don't know if martins do something similar, but some Discovery channel or similar type show on birds migrating across large spans of ocean like that said they will get in the wind patterns and just drift and will actually go to sleep for a time. I bet the martins make that gulf crossing quicker than you think, that will be interesting to see on the timeline as well and the whole trip probably is much quicker than we can imagine also.

Me too.

I saw yours and the other persons posted on the Martin site. Very good, and downright amazing, information there. I wonder if any researchers has ever done it with any of the other neotropical migrants, such as warblers. Be very cool to see all the different migration paths they take. I’d imagine most species can’t make that cross ocean journey without stopping. Back when I was with the F&W service, we did census taking on migrants coming in. I’ve seen more than one bird lying on the beach at dauphin island “catching its breath”.

Awesome

Bird flying good little ways

Theres a lobster fisherman that does reels on instagram. He's forever more coming across small birds way out at sea. He said they land on the boat to catch their breath. I bet those birds land on anything and everything they can to catch their breath. Oil platforms, ships/boats...floating garbage...

That is really special. Brings a whole new meaning to your username.

Amazing how they can make those flights over so much open ocean.

Always been amazed on what those little guys can do. Is there a good forum i can reference to learn do's and don'ts for setting up a few gourds?