People passionate about nature

The mysteries of songbird migration revealed: tracking long-distance migration using new technology

Presenter: 

Dr. Kevin Fraser, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba

Date: 

Monday, March 14, 2016

Start Time: 

7:30 pm

Location: 

Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre, 340 Provencher Blvd on second floor - Salle Antoine-Gaborieau.

Admission: 

$2 for members and $3 for non-members.

Migration is a fascinating natural phenomenon that has intrigued humans for centuries. Billions of songbirds make epic migratory journeys every year between their breeding sites in North America and their overwintering homes in the New World Tropics, yet we are only just beginning to unravel the mysteries of migration. Using new technology, we can now track the specific migratory routes and behaviour of individual birds, providing important new insights into how birds time their travels, respond to weather, and where specifically our Canadian breeding birds spend the rest of their year. With many songbird species experiencing steep rates of population decline, there is an added urgency to mapping songbird migration and understanding which populations may be most at risk in our changing world. Kevin Fraser studies the migration ecology and conservation of long-distance migratory songbirds. He will present new data on the migration and ecology of several songbird species that breed in Manitoba, including Purple Martin, Canada Warbler, and Mountain Bluebird.