The second Saturday of the month of May is celebrated World Migratory Bird Day. It is one of the two days of the year to commemorate this day and that children can participate in spreading a campaign of support. But for this we have to explain why some birds are migratory.
We must make this day an appeal so that all together Let's reconnect with nature either from city parks or from places as remote as forests, fields, wetlands, mountains or any corner of a rural area. You can see how the birds act, their songs, their food and which are the ones that could make a migration in any season of the year.
How to explain to children what migratory birds are?
Birds are migratory because they do not stay in the same place or do not maintain their static habitat, but in some seasons of the year they start a great journey of many kilometers to find a place with a more suitable climate to be able to survive.
Step by step we can say that the birds they move to warmer areas, to coincide with the spring and summer seasons, and thus be able to have their young or continue their reproduction. The season where they mark the migration is usually late summer or early autumn.
These migratory birds they can travel short distances where they leave the mountainous areas to reach lower areas with less cold and more sheltered. Other birds roam tens of thousands of kilometers to reach your destination where they have to overcome many inclement weather (rains, storms, strong winds ...) or move through the mountains.
Birds go in groups and the length of time when they move they usually last from days to weeks. During the journey they have to stop, rest and eat and that is why they take advantage of many areas such as small wetlands or lagoons to be able to rest.
Why do birds migrate?
We have to understand whate birds need to feed and if they stay in a place with a very cold climate that will make it difficult for them to do so. There are places where the cold is too extreme, the plants do not grow, there is snowfall and with such low temperatures the areas where there is water can freeze. That's why the birds migrate from their cold areas from the north to fly to places with lower latitudes, in the central south, where they can find food for have a much warmer climate.
Children should know the importance of protecting birds
For years we can observe that the number of birds decreases every year and it is a worrying fact. If the birds decrease in number there may be an ecological disorder or an imbalance in the food chain.
It is the example of insects, birds feed on them and some birds can eat up to 2.000 insects a day. If the number of birds is reduced, the number of insects increases. Also all predators that feed on birds they can die from lack of food And there, another of the balances in the food chain occurs again.
You have to become aware of what the care and protection of all species of birds. The activity of man creates this imbalance: massive hunting, deforestation of trees, massive agriculture and livestock, the dumping of toxic waste in nature. There are many of the acts that create an imbalance and disturbance both in terrestrial areas and in marine ecosystems, with these data the disappearance of much flora and fauna at many points and the disappearance of many migratory birds.
The phenomenon of migratory birds it is not a fact that it only occurs in this species. There are also butterflies, bats, fish or turtles that also have to migrate to find a comfortable place. If you like animals a lot you can read our sections and browse about the monkeys and the behavior of cats.