You may have noticed, but most of our birds have stopped singing and there’s a few more geese in the air. It may still feel like summer, but the resources of spring and early summer have dwindled and those further North are long since gone. Birds are on the move. I think most people are aware, certainly, that birds migrate, but where do Capitol Hill’s summer birds go and where do wintering species arrive from?

Most people generally assume that migration is a simple point A to point B process, that our birds cruise South or North and make regular stops along the way. While it is a good assumption to make, it’s not an absolute.

Many species make strategic stops to fuel up or find a way station to get back up to speed after a busy breeding season before really getting going. Even swallows, our heralds of spring, don’t merely start flying South individually but gather for days on end, building great flocks in ideal locations before taking off for Mexico and Central America. Even then, they don’t just go straight there, they take their time and stop lots for food.

In mountain meadows, many songbirds find an extended season. Here, adults can fuel up and replace the year’s trashed feathers, and juveniles can molt into their formative plumage. Little yellow gems like Orange-crowned Warblers follow this routine before vacating for Mexico and Central America.

Replacing them from the highlands are a whole new set of birds, some even quite colorful, who winter in the lowlands. My favorite visitor from higher elevations are Varied Thrush. With a more intricate coloration than a robin, Varied Thrushes appear once food is scarce above and stick around until the snows begin to melt in late Spring. Also in tow are Fox Sparrows, going up to breed in dense thickets of native shrubs and then return and mostly inhabit dense stands of Himalayan blackberries on Capitol Hill. Townsend’s Warblers also join us in the lowlands for the winter (though many migrate as far as Mexico), adding nice drops of yellow during the gray days of winter.

We also know it’s not only songbirds that migrate, and a bevy of Accipiters (bird hunting specialists like Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawks) fly to the lowlands following their food sources. Birds of prey are incredibly territorial during breeding but relax these standards in the winter and we see higher numbers in our lowlands, from areas where winters get harsh in comparison to mild coastal Northwest ones.

Some birds may appear to be around all year, but in reality are a continuum of individuals. American Robins, one of our most common species, are a prime example.

While it’s probably not as cut and dry as this, the robins we see in winter are not necessarily the same ones we see in summer. Because robins are very widespread, breeding very far north, when the seasons change, they drift South. Equally so, robins that breed here can find relatively better winters farther south and vacate for them accordingly.

There may also be some leapfrogging populations, undertaking longer distance migrations. We know many species do this sort of thing, including our breeding Peregrine Falcons, which may migrate to South America and back annually and are replaced by wintering birds from the north. We know these things from scientists banding birds, using GPS technology, and a technique called stable-isotope analysis which looks at the elements left in bird feathers from what they eat at either end of their journey.

Many people notice ducks and geese as they arrive from their breeding grounds. Some come from not too far away, like Buffleheads and Goldeneyes which arrive from northeastern Washington to winter on Lake Union and Washington.

Some geese, including various types of Canada Geese (yes, there’s multiple types) come from from Alaska and pass through on their way elsewhere (and some are here year-round, because it’s simply a nice place to be). Our most common, iconic species of duck, the Mallard, doesn’t migrate too much. There’s not a lot of need for them to leave our neck of the woods, as the lakes don’t freeze and there’s plenty of food year-round.

Bird migration, like any other part of a bird’s natural history, isn’t simply explained with a blanket statement for all species involved. In fact, at most times of the year, there are some birds in our area moving somewhere. Excitingly, there’s much more to learn about the process for a myriad of species. Late summer can be an exciting time for bird movements; so take a look around and you might witness movements in your day to day life in the middle of the city.