Magnificent migration

April and May are some of the most exciting months of the year for the Bird Team here at Zoo Atlanta. Resident birds are busy gathering nesting material, building nests, and beginning to lay eggs in The Living Treehouse, our Bird Propagation Center, and many other places throughout the Zoo. At the same time, our local native birds are migrating, nesting, and raising chicks of their own! Late April/early May is the peak time for migration here in Atlanta. In the U.S. about 350 bird species make long-distance migrations for food and nesting sites.

On May 11, we celebrated World Migratory Bird Day at the Zoo. The day was filled with lots of learning about ways each and every one of us can make a difference for the birds in our own backyards. We highlighted the importance of planting native plants in your home and garden to give birds a source of food and shelter. Many insects rely on very specific native plants to survive, and most birds rely on thousands of insects to feed themselves and their chicks!

You can be the solution to plastic pollution! Birds, all over the world, and many other animals run into problems when the environment is polluted with plastics that eventually turn into microplastics. By limiting single-use plastics in your life, you can make a big difference for birds and a variety of other wildlife.

The last thing we wanted to highlight for World Migratory Bird Day is the joy of birding itself – observing and identifying birds is a fantastic way to learn more about wildlife, to relax, and make new friends. We were lucky enough to have our friends from the Atlanta Audubon Society at the Zoo for the day to share their knowledge of native birds and all that they do to conserve them. If you missed Zoo Atlanta’s celebration of World Migratory Bird Day, you can still join us for some of our regular bird programing. Throughout the summer, we will have a Birding 101 Keeper Talk in The Living Treehouse at 3 p.m. every Sunday. We will also have a Bird Garden Activity on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. near the southern ground hornbill habitat. Happy birding, and have a great day!
Gabe A.
Keeper I, Birds