As has been pointed out, the advance of average temperature lines, known as isotherms, is found to correspond closely with the northward movements of certain species. For example, the northward travels of the Canada goose are found to coincide with the advance of the isotherm of 35° F. ([fig. 4]).
The spring flight of migrants, if interrupted for any reason, is resumed when weather conditions again become favorable, and it is probable that all instances of arrival of birds in stormy weather can be explained on the theory that the flight was begun while the weather was auspicious. The state of the weather when a flight starts at any southern point, the relation of that place to the average position of the bird under normal weather conditions on that date, and the average rate of migratory flight, are data basic to any reasonably accurate prediction of the time arrival may be expected in northern areas.
Head winds are as unfavorable to migration as is rain or snow, as they greatly increase the labor of flight and cut down the speed of cross-country travel. If such winds have a particularly high velocity they may force down the weaker travelers, and when this happens over water areas, large numbers of birds are lost. Even strong winds that blow in the direction of aerial travel are unfavorable for the birds, as they interfere with their balance and disarrange their feathers. Moderate tail winds and cross or quartering breezes appear to offer the best conditions for the passage of the migrants.
Problems of Migration
Banding studies
The study of living birds by the banding method, whereby great numbers of individuals are marked with numbered aluminum leg rings, has come to be recognized as a most accurate means of ornithological research. Since 1920, banding work in North America has been under the direction of the Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with the Dominion Wildlife Service of Canada. Every year voluntary cooperators, working under permit, place bands on thousands of birds, game and nongame, large and small, migratory and nonmigratory, each band carrying a serial number and the legend, NOTIFY FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, WASHINGTON, D. C., or on the smaller sizes an abbreviation thereof. When a banded bird is reported from a second locality, a definite fact relative to its movements becomes known, and a study of many cases of this nature develops more and more complete knowledge of the details of migration.
The records of banded birds are also yielding other pertinent information relative to their migrations, such as the exact dates of arrival and departure of individuals, the length of time that different birds pause on their migratory journeys to feed and rest, the relation between weather conditions and the starting times for migration, the rates of travel of individual birds, the degree of regularity with which birds return to the exact summer or winter quarters used in former years, and many other details that could be learned in no other manner. Banding stations that are operated systematically throughout the year, therefore, are supplying much information concerning the movements of migratory birds that heretofore could only be surmised. (See Appendix II, p. 92 for instructions on reporting the recovery of banded birds.)
Movements of residents
Typical migration consists of definite movements that are repeated regularly year after year, and it is to these that the term is generally restricted. It is desirable, however, if only for purposes of comparison, that some account be taken of the movements of some other birds, which, while not typical, do possess some of the characteristics of true migration. Data on this subject are being collected through bird banding.
There are several species that are customarily grouped under the heading "permanent residents," the term implying that these birds do not travel but remain throughout the year in one locality. Among these are the cardinal, the tufted titmouse, the wrentit, the Carolina wren, the house finch, the bobwhite, the California quail, and the ruffed grouse. Each species may be present constantly throughout the year, although in the northern part of the range there is probably a slight withdrawal of the breeding birds in winter. The individuals to be seen at that season, therefore, may not always be the same as those observed during the summer. It is certain, however, that these species do not regularly perform extensive journeys.