Flying into Celebrating World Migratory Bird Day

DULUTH, Minn.– The snow is melted, and the sun is shining that alone is something to celebrate.

But with the turning of seasons, there was another special celebration.

“It’s really important to highlight the really vital role that Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin along Lake Superior play for bird migration. And even just the interaction of the urban and rural with a huge amount of bird migration is something we really like to highlight,” said Steve Kolbe, Avian Ecologist, Natural Resources Research Institute.

The Natural Resources Research Institute has spent decades researching these annual visitors.

And they’re hard at work every year tracking up to 22 different bird species.

According to one researcher, just on Thursday night alone, an impressive 23 million birds migrated through the twin ports.

“I think a lot of people think about birds or bird migration happening in only like pristine and wild areas, and that’s not the case at all. It happens everywhere,” said Kolbe.

The arrowhead region is considered a superhighway for migrations. From birds of prey, all the way to the barn swallow.

And to keep count and research these animals, they often use special equipment to accomplish this.

“The vast majority of it happens at night. And is invisible to us. Except we’re using technology like radar. So, there’s so many birds up in the air that you can detect it using radar,” said Kolbe.

With this influx of birds every year. The question remains, why are these travelers so important?

“They travel great distances, and they do things that are unimaginable to us. And they’re this little thing that doesn’t weigh more than that are in your pocket that’s traversing the hemisphere, said Kolbe.  “If we study birds and bird populations and try to understand are populations doing well, are they doing bad, it tells us something about the world at large. And we’re living in the same world that the birds are. And so, anybody that’s happening to them, it’s happening to us.”

So, whether you see a seagull flying around, or a tern at the beach.

Make sure to give them an extra warm welcome on Migratory Bird Day.

And recognize the effort put in to study these special tourists.