Migratory Species

Migratory Species

Migratory species are animals that regularly move between different geographic areas as part of their life cycles. These movements may occur seasonally or in response to changing food supplies, breeding requirements, weather, water availability, or other environmental conditions. Migration occurs throughout the animal kingdom and includes birds crossing continents, whales moving between feeding and breeding grounds, salmon traveling between rivers and oceans, large mammals following seasonal vegetation, sea turtles returning to nesting beaches, and insects moving across enormous distances.

Migration connects ecosystems that may be separated by hundreds or thousands of kilometers. Because migratory animals depend on multiple habitats during different stages of their journeys, their survival cannot usually be secured by protecting a single location. Breeding grounds, wintering areas, feeding grounds, migration corridors, stopover sites, rivers, wetlands, coastlines, and ocean routes may all be necessary parts of the same biological system.

Migration Across Land, Air, and Water

Animal migration takes many forms. Terrestrial mammals such as caribou, antelope, zebra, elk, mule deer, and pronghorn may travel long distances between seasonal ranges. These migrations allow animals to follow vegetation, water, favorable weather, and suitable breeding habitat.

Marine animals can undertake even greater journeys. Gray whales migrate between Arctic feeding grounds and breeding lagoons near Mexico, while humpback and other baleen whales commonly move between productive high-latitude feeding areas and warmer breeding waters. Sea turtles travel between feeding areas and nesting beaches, sometimes crossing entire ocean basins.

Migratory fish illustrate the importance of connections between marine and freshwater ecosystems. Salmon migrate from freshwater into the ocean before returning to their natal river systems to reproduce. Eels, sturgeon, shad, steelhead, and other fishes also depend on unobstructed passage through rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters.

Insects participate in migrations on scales that were historically difficult to observe. Monarch butterflies make a remarkable multigenerational journey across North America, while radar studies indicate that enormous numbers of other insects also undertake seasonal movements.

Bird Migration and Global Flyways

Bird migration is among the most visible and extensively studied forms of animal movement. Hundreds of millions of birds follow recurring migration routes known as flyways. Some migrations connect neighboring regions, while others stretch across continents, deserts, mountains, oceans, and hemispheres.

Major global flyways connect breeding, stopover, and wintering habitats across many countries. The East Atlantic, African-Eurasian, East Asian-Australasian, Pacific, and other flyway systems demonstrate why migratory bird conservation is inherently international.

Wetlands are especially important along many flyways. Migrating birds use them as resting and feeding areas where they can replenish energy before continuing their journeys. The loss of even a relatively small but strategically located wetland can therefore affect birds originating thousands of kilometers away.

Some birds undertake extraordinary journeys. Arctic terns migrate between polar regions, while seabirds such as shearwaters cross entire ocean basins. Shorebirds, songbirds, raptors, waterfowl, swifts, hummingbirds, and other groups employ a wide variety of migration strategies.

Birds navigate using combinations of inherited behavior, learned routes, landmarks, celestial information, environmental conditions, and the Earth's magnetic field. Tracking research continues to reveal routes and behaviors that were previously unknown.

Migration Corridors and Habitat Connectivity

A central theme in migratory-species conservation is ecological connectivity. Animals must be able to move between the places required during different stages of their lives.

For terrestrial species, highways, fences, cities, agriculture, energy development, and other infrastructure can fragment historical migration corridors. Mapping of mule deer, elk, pronghorn, antelope, and other large mammals has revealed narrow migration bottlenecks where relatively small areas may be essential to maintaining much larger migratory systems.

Rivers present similar challenges for migratory fish. Dams, culverts, and other barriers may prevent fish from reaching spawning and nursery habitat. Dam removal, improved fish passage, culvert replacement, and river restoration can reopen habitats that have been inaccessible for decades.

Birds and insects require networks of suitable stopover habitats rather than a single continuous corridor. Wetlands, forests, grasslands, beaches, native vegetation, and other habitat patches can function as ecological service stations where migrants rest and refuel.

Marine species depend on another form of connectivity. Whales, turtles, sharks, tuna, seabirds, and other ocean migrants may travel through the territorial waters of numerous countries as well as the high seas. Tracking research increasingly reveals shared marine migration corridors requiring conservation at international scales.

Threats to Migratory Species

Evidence summarized in global assessments indicates that many migratory animal populations are declining. Habitat destruction and degradation are among the most widespread problems because migrants depend on multiple locations and can therefore be affected by habitat loss anywhere along their routes.

Other threats include hunting and overexploitation, fishing-gear entanglement, ship strikes, artificial light, buildings and other collision hazards, pesticides, pollution, disturbance, energy infrastructure, and barriers to movement.

Migratory species may be particularly vulnerable because threats accumulate across their annual cycles. An animal protected at its breeding site may encounter habitat destruction during migration, hunting at a stopover site, or deteriorating conditions in its wintering habitat.

Disease can also interact with migration. Research examining avian influenza illustrates how movements of migratory birds can intersect with patterns of disease transmission, while disease outbreaks themselves may place additional pressure on already declining populations.

Climate Change and Changing Migration

Climate change is altering the environmental signals and resources that historically shaped animal migration. Rising temperatures, changing rainfall, altered snowpack, drought, extreme heat, changing ocean conditions, loss of sea ice, wildfire, and shifts in vegetation can modify both migration routes and migration timing.

Animals may arrive at breeding or feeding grounds at times that no longer coincide with peak food availability. Arctic-breeding birds face increasingly early springs, while whales and other marine animals may alter the timing or location of their movements as ocean conditions change.

Changing distributions may also expose migrants to new hazards. Marine animals shifting toward different waters may encounter greater shipping traffic, fishing activity, or other human pressures.

Migration itself can provide animals with some ability to respond to environmental change, but successful movement requires suitable destinations and connected routes. Climate adaptation for migratory species therefore depends heavily on protecting ecological connectivity.

Tracking Migration and Conservation Science

Technological advances have transformed the study of migration. Satellite transmitters, GPS tags, geolocators, acoustic monitoring, radar, photo-identification, automated radio telemetry, and other methods allow researchers to follow animals across distances that would have been impossible to observe directly.

Networks such as Motus can detect individually tagged birds, bats, and insects as they move across large geographic areas. Miniaturization of tracking devices has made it possible to study progressively smaller species.

Tracking has revealed previously unknown migration corridors, stopover sites, offshore movements, flight altitudes, and connections between breeding and wintering populations. Researchers have documented enormous seabird journeys, mapped migrations of terrestrial ungulates, followed whales through ocean basins, and tracked individual shorebirds between hemispheres.

This information has practical conservation value. Identifying migration bottlenecks, important wetlands, river passages, marine corridors, or heavily used stopover sites allows conservation measures to be directed toward places where they may have the greatest effect.

Ecological Importance of Migratory Species

Migratory animals do more than move between ecosystems. Their movements can connect ecological processes across enormous distances.

Migrants may transport nutrients, seeds, organisms, and energy between ecosystems. Baleen whales, for example, can move nutrients accumulated in productive high-latitude feeding areas toward lower-latitude breeding regions.

Migratory animals also contribute to pollination, pest control, fisheries, tourism, recreation, and other ecosystem services. Predators may follow migrating prey, while plants and other organisms may depend indirectly on seasonal animal movements.

The ecological benefits associated with migration therefore may be produced in one location but depend upon habitat in another. Protecting migratory species requires recognizing these long-distance ecological relationships.

International Conservation

Migratory wildlife presents a particular conservation challenge because animals do not remain within political boundaries. A species may depend on habitat controlled by many different governments during a single annual cycle.

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals provides an international framework for cooperation. Species considered endangered or requiring international conservation cooperation can receive protection through the Convention and its appendices.

International conservation initiatives increasingly focus on maintaining entire flyways, migration corridors, marine routes, and networks of critical habitats rather than protecting isolated locations.

Recent global assessments have warned that many migratory populations continue to decline despite existing conservation programs. Governments have responded with new or strengthened protections for migratory birds, marine animals, terrestrial mammals, and other species, along with initiatives addressing illegal hunting, habitat connectivity, renewable-energy impacts, and national biodiversity planning.

Effective protection ultimately depends on cooperation among countries, conservation organizations, scientists, landowners, Indigenous peoples, local communities, resource managers, and industries whose activities intersect with migration routes.

Conclusion

Migration is one of the fundamental strategies by which animals respond to seasonal and geographic differences in food, climate, breeding opportunities, and habitat. From monarch butterflies and Arctic terns to salmon, sea turtles, whales, antelope, and mule deer, migratory species connect landscapes and ecosystems that may be separated by thousands of kilometers.

Those connections also create vulnerability. Habitat destruction, barriers, hunting, pollution, collisions, fishing activity, infrastructure, disease, and climate change encountered at any point along a migration route can affect animals far beyond the location where the threat occurs.

The growing ability to map and track migration has made these connections increasingly visible. Conservation science now shows that protecting migratory species generally requires protecting not simply individual animals or isolated reserves, but functioning networks of breeding areas, feeding grounds, stopover sites, rivers, wetlands, ocean corridors, and terrestrial migration routes.

Migratory species therefore demonstrate one of the central realities of biodiversity conservation: ecosystems are connected across political boundaries. Their continued survival depends on conservation strategies capable of operating across those boundaries as well.

Global Migration and Conservation

Appendix I & II of CMS | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2026-06-27

Explains the treaty appendices covering endangered migratory species and species that require or would benefit from international cooperation.

The Best U.S. National Parks for Wildlife Migrations | Susan B. Barnes | National Geographic | 2026-06-24

Highlights elk, bison, whales, birds and insects whose seasonal migrations pass through national parks.

Migratory Species Summit Adopts New Marine Protections Amid Extinction Warnings | Mongabay Staff | Mongabay | 2026-04

Reports on new international protections adopted for dozens of migratory animals, with a strong focus on marine species and transboundary conservation.

40 Migratory Animal Species Receive New or Upgraded Protection | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2026-03-29

Governments agreed to new or stronger protections for dozens of migratory birds, aquatic animals and terrestrial species at CMS COP15 in Brazil.

New Report: Decline of Populations of Migratory Species Covered by UN Treaty Worsens | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2026-03-05

The latest global assessment finds that population declines among internationally protected migratory species have worsened, reinforcing the need for stronger conservation across borders.

State of the World’s Migratory Species: Interim Report (2026) | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2026-03

Updates the global status of CMS-listed migratory animals, highlighting worsening extinction risk, population declines, habitat gaps, and conservation priorities.

Outlook for Migratory Species Worsens Amid Habitat Loss and Avian Flu | Mongabay Staff | Mongabay | 2026-03

Summarizes evidence that many treaty-listed migratory species are declining as habitat loss, disease, overexploitation, and climate pressures intensify.

Fact Sheets on Migratory Species | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2026

Collects species-focused fact sheets on caribou, pronghorn, mule deer, bats, elephants, antelopes, raptors, and other migratory wildlife.

Climate Change Is Redrawing the Map of Species Migration | Earth.Org Staff | Earth.Org | 2026

Looks at how warming temperatures and altered ecosystems are changing where species move and complicating assumptions about predictable range shifts.

Governments Endorse New Programme to Protect Central Asia’s Migratory Mammals | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2025-10-16

Central Asian governments agreed on cooperative measures to safeguard migration corridors and habitats used by seventeen large mammal species.

Global Experts Find Climate Change Is Threatening Earth’s Animal Migrations | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2025-10-02

Scientists describe how warming, altered rainfall, extreme weather and changing ecosystems are disrupting migration timing, routes and habitats worldwide.

Momentum Builds for Stronger National Laws on Migratory Species | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2025-09-01

Governments and legal experts examine how domestic laws can translate international migratory-species commitments into enforceable conservation measures.

New UN Task Force Targets Illegal Taking of Migratory Birds | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2025-05-21

Ten countries formed a regional task force to combat unsustainable hunting and trapping of migratory birds in South-West Asia.

New Maps Document World’s Largest Land Animal Migration | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2025-04-30

Detailed tracking reveals the enormous seasonal movements of white-eared kob and tiang across South Sudan and Ethiopia.

Pastoralism and Migratory Species | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2025

Examines the connections among pastoralism, rangeland management, transhumance and migratory wildlife conservation.

Samarkand Strategic Plan on Migratory Species | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2025

Describes international efforts to establish targets, indicators and monitoring systems for migratory-species conservation.

UN Launches First-Ever Live Map of Large Mammal Migrations | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2024-09-04

Describes a global interactive atlas mapping migrations of antelopes, zebras, guanacos and other hoofed mammals.

Revised CMS Appendices Enter Into Force | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2024-05-17

Explains changes to the international lists of migratory species requiring coordinated conservation.

Historic UN Wildlife Meeting Concludes With Major Actions | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2024-02-17

Summarizes international agreements addressing flyways, threatened mammals, sharks and other migratory wildlife.

State of the World’s Migratory Species Report (2024) | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2024-02-12

The first global assessment of migratory species reviews population trends, extinction risk, major threats, and actions needed across entire migration routes.

Landmark UN Report: World’s Migratory Species Are in Decline | UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme | 2024-02-12

Reports that nearly half of CMS-listed migratory species have declining populations and more than one-fifth face extinction.

Uniting to Protect Migratory Species for the Benefit of All | Inger Andersen | United Nations Environment Programme | 2024-02-12

Discusses the ecological importance of migrating wildlife and the need for nations to cooperate across political borders.

Major UN Meeting on Migratory Species Conservation Opens in Uzbekistan | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2024-02-12

Introduces the major international negotiations on conservation of animals whose movements cross national boundaries.

CMS COP14 Champions for Migratory Species | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2024-02-12

Highlights governments and organizations supporting work on migration corridors, illegal bird killing and conservation of Central Asian mammals.

Earth’s Migratory Animals Are in Peril | Lina Zeldovich | Smithsonian Magazine | 2024-02-12

Reviews the global CMS assessment and explains ecological services provided by migrating animals.

Renewable Energy and Migratory Species | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2024

Addresses the impacts of wind power, transmission infrastructure and other energy development on wildlife moving across migration routes.

Amendments to the Appendices of the Convention | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2024

Details new species added to CMS protection following COP14.

Migratory Species and National Biodiversity Strategies | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 2024

Provides guidance for incorporating migration corridors and migratory wildlife into national biodiversity planning.

International Day for Biological Diversity and Migratory Species | Amy Fraenkel | Convention on Migratory Species | 2024

Explains how ecological connectivity for migratory animals relates to international biodiversity targets.

Migration Matters | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | 2023-06-19

Introduces research on how animals use migration corridors and how managers can protect those routes from development, disturbance, and climate change.

What Is Migration? | National Park Service | National Park Service | 2023

Introduces migration as a recurring ecological strategy used by wildlife to follow seasonal resources and suitable conditions.

By Land, Air, and Water—USGS Science Supporting Fish and Wildlife Migrations | Mona Khalil et al. | U.S. Geological Survey | 2022-06-22

Surveys migration science across birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, bats, and insects, emphasizing the importance of migration corridors.

Twelve Epic Migratory Journeys Animals Take Every Spring | Brian Handwerk | Smithsonian Magazine | 2019-04-19

Profiles spectacular migrations by caribou, whales, birds, insects, and other animals and explains the ecological pressures that drive them.

Ecosystem Services from Transborder Migratory Species | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | 2017-10-17

Examines how migratory animals deliver pollination, pest control, recreation, and other benefits that depend on habitats spread across multiple jurisdictions.

Spatial Subsidies: Quantifying Linkages with Migratory Species | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | 2017-07-14

Explores how distant ecosystems support the benefits people receive from migratory wildlife and why conservation must account for the full annual cycle.

What a Trip! The Toughest Animal Migrations on Earth | National Geographic Staff | National Geographic | 2016-03-26

Compares extreme migrations by birds, mammals and insects, including long nonstop flights across oceans.

Convention Text | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | 1979

Provides the legal definition of a migratory species and the obligations countries accept to conserve threatened migratory animals and their habitats.

Introduction to the Convention on Migratory Species | CMS Secretariat | Convention on Migratory Species | n.d.

Explains why conservation of animals that cross national borders requires coordinated protection of habitats, routes, and populations across range states.

Bird Migration and Flyways

Reconnecting the Skies: Linking Flyways for Migratory Seabirds Across Continents | Mongabay Staff | Mongabay | 2026-08-21

Describes new research identifying global marine flyways used by long-distance seabirds and the need for coordinated protection across national waters and the high seas.

There and Back Again—The Journeys of Two Wood Thrush | Mark LaBarr | Audubon | 2026-08-17

Tracking Wood Thrushes reveals journeys between northeastern breeding forests and tropical wintering grounds in Central America.

Voices of the Flyways: Diana Eusse | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | 2026-08-06

Profiles conservation work along the Americas flyway and shows how migratory birds connect distant landscapes, countries, and communities.

Adopt-a-Flyway Program to Enhance Migratory Bird Habitat | Margo Rosenbaum | Audubon | 2026-07-28

A Minnesota initiative aims to restore hundreds of acres of privately and publicly managed habitat along the Mississippi Flyway.

Release the Chicks: Banding Great Lakes Piping Plovers | Audubon Great Lakes | Audubon | 2026-07-02

Banding endangered Piping Plovers helps researchers follow survival and migration between Great Lakes breeding beaches and southern wintering areas.

Beidler Forest to the Bahamas: Journey of a Secretive Songbird | Ben Graham | Audubon | 2026-06-18

Geolocators reveal migration routes used by Swainson’s Warblers traveling between the southeastern United States and Caribbean.

Cholao and Its Incredible Migratory Route Across the Americas | Audubon Americas | Audubon | 2026-06-17

Satellite tracking follows a Lesser Yellowlegs from Colombia through the Gulf of Mexico to breeding habitat in northern North America.

Signals in the Sky | Samara Villasenor | Audubon | 2026-05-18

Explains how an expanding network of Motus radio towers tracks birds, bats and insects moving through the Pacific Northwest.

Spring Migration Is Always Exciting | Kevin Poague | Audubon | 2026-05-15

Observations from the Great Plains demonstrate how prairie habitats support migrating grassland birds, warblers and waterfowl.

World Migratory Bird Day: Birds Reveal the Health of Our World | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | 2026-05-09

Uses migratory birds as indicators of ecosystem health and emphasizes the need to conserve connected habitats along entire flyways.

Center for Birds of Prey’s First Motus Visitor | Karina Jiménez | Audubon | 2026-04-27

An American Kestrel became the first tagged migrant detected by a new Motus tracking station in Florida.

Migratory Species Connect Our World—Now We Must Protect Them | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | 2026-03-23

Examines the international policy actions required to conserve birds and other species whose migrations span multiple countries.

Building Momentum for Flyway Conservation | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | 2026-03-20

Describes efforts to integrate development finance, habitat protection and international cooperation across the African-Eurasian Flyway.

Tuning In to Spring Migration | Anna Vallery | Audubon | 2026-03-17

Introduces radar, acoustic monitoring and tracking technologies that allow scientists and the public to follow migrations in real time.

New Data Reveals Golden-winged Warbler Migration Mysteries | Brittany Salmons | Audubon | 2026-02-17

Geolocator records reveal how small warblers time risky nonstop flights across the Gulf of Mexico.

World Migratory Bird Day 2026: Every Bird Counts | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2026-01-27

Highlights how public observations contribute data on migratory populations, timing, distribution and habitat use.

The Basics of Bird Migration: How, Why, When, and Where | Cornell Lab of Ornithology | All About Birds | 2026

Explains the major drivers, timing, distances, and strategies of bird migration, from short elevational movements to intercontinental journeys.

Navigation: How Birds Find Their Way When They Migrate | Cornell Lab of Ornithology | All About Birds | 2026

Reviews the multiple cues birds use to navigate, including celestial information, landmarks, magnetic fields, and learned routes.

The Flyways Birds Use to Migrate Across Continents | Cornell Lab of Ornithology | All About Birds | 2026

Explains how hundreds of millions of birds follow recurring continental and oceanic routes known as flyways.

Chimney Swift Migration Is Full of Mysteries | Kelsey Barnett-Fischels | Audubon | 2026

Researchers are using tagged rehabilitated Chimney Swifts to investigate poorly understood migration routes.

Where Do Vaux’s Swifts Spend the Night? | Maddie Burakoff | Audubon | 2026

Community scientists map communal roosts that provide important resting places during Vaux’s Swift migration.

Audubon Center at Riverlands: A Hemispheric Crossroads | Audubon Upper Mississippi River | Audubon | 2026

Describes an important Mississippi River stopover used by birds moving between Arctic, temperate and tropical habitats.

How Do Migrating Birds Know Where to Go? | WWT | Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust | 2025-11-01

Explores how birds orient and navigate along established flyways and how inherited behavior and environmental cues guide their journeys.

How Bird Migration Keeps the Planet Connected | Nikita Gyanesh | Wetlands International | 2025-10-10

Explains how migratory birds link wetlands and ecosystems across hemispheres and why local habitat protection can have global effects.

Migrating Common Nighthawk Tracked From Maine to Florida | Renée Wilson | Audubon | 2025-10-07

A Motus receiver in Florida detected a Common Nighthawk originally tagged in Maine during its southbound migration.

World Bank and BirdLife International Launch Historic Conservation Push | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | 2025-10-06

Covers a multinational effort to protect critical habitats along the African-Eurasian Flyway and connect conservation work across three continents.

Early Efforts to Understand Bird Migration | Nature Editors | Nature | 2025-09-30

Looks back at the development of scientific ideas about bird migration and attempts to explain how migratory behavior works.

A Buff-breasted Sandpiper Connects Florida to Habitat North and South | Col Lauzau | Audubon | 2025-09-09

Uses an individual shorebird to illustrate how Florida beaches connect Arctic breeding areas with South American wintering grounds.

Migratory Bird Annual Status Reports | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2025-09-02

Describes large-scale surveys used to monitor waterfowl and other migratory bird populations across North America.

Flyway Conservation | RSPB | Royal Society for the Protection of Birds | 2025-08-23

Describes international habitat protection and restoration along the East Atlantic Flyway, where birds depend on linked sites across many countries.

From Bodega Bay to the Salton Sea—A Shorebird’s Journey | Dan Orr | Audubon | 2025-06-06

Western Sandpipers demonstrate the importance of linked wetlands along the Pacific Flyway.

Explore Global Flyways This World Migratory Bird Day | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | 2025-05-10

Introduces major global flyways and highlights the immense numbers of birds and countries linked by seasonal migration.

Climate Resilience for Migratory Birds and People Along the East Atlantic Flyway | Wetlands International | Wetlands International | 2025-05-07

Profiles an 11-country initiative designed to strengthen wetlands, migratory bird habitat, and community resilience along the East Atlantic Flyway.

Global Marine Flyways Identified for Long-Distance Migrating Seabirds | British Antarctic Survey | British Antarctic Survey | 2025-02-17

Summarizes tracking data from 48 long-distance seabird species to identify shared marine migration corridors across the world’s oceans.

Where Do Hummingbirds Go in the Winter? | Anna Gibbs | Audubon | 2025-01-17

Reviews the remarkably varied migration strategies used by North American hummingbirds.

The Wonder of Migration and the Flyway of Life | National Audubon Society | Audubon | 2025

Explains the four major North American flyways and why stopover sites are essential for birds moving between breeding and wintering areas.

Scientists Can Now Track the Roseate Tern’s Migration | Jill Langlois | Audubon | 2025

Tracking reveals movements between northeastern North American breeding colonies and important coastal sites in Brazil.

Scientists Can Now Track How High Songbirds Fly Over the Ocean | Halle Parker | Audubon | 2025

New tracking techniques reveal flight altitudes of songbirds making dangerous overwater migrations.

A Kaleidoscopic Variety of Migrating Hummingbirds Out West | Douglas Main | Audubon | 2025

Explores the early southbound movements of hummingbird species across the western United States.

Migratory Shorebird Populations Plummeting Globally | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | 2024-10-28

Reports major declines among shorebirds whose survival depends on networks of coastal and wetland stopover sites.

Combating Threats to Endangered Birds on the Americas Flyway | Wetlands International | Wetlands International | 2024-10-21

Highlights efforts to reduce habitat loss and other threats affecting migratory birds along the interconnected Americas flyway.

Shared Skies: Monarchs & Migratory Birds | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2024-10-11

Shows how monarch butterflies and neotropical migratory birds depend on overlapping networks of native plants, water, stopover habitat, and international cooperation.

Global Bird Weekend Celebrates the World’s Flyways | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | 2024-09-27

Introduces notable species and conservation challenges along several of the planet’s major bird migration routes.

Empowering Communities to Safeguard Migratory Bird Havens in Africa | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | 2024-08-28

Shows how locally led conservation projects protect critical sites along the East Atlantic Flyway.

The Monumental Effort to Understand Migrating Shorebirds | Shaela Adams | Audubon | 2024-07-02

Hundreds of observers survey western wetlands to determine where shorebirds concentrate during migration.

Toolkit to Address Human Disturbance on Shorebirds | Audubon | Audubon | 2024-04-19

Compiles strategies for protecting migratory shorebirds from vehicles, recreation, dogs and other disturbance at coastal stopover sites.

Nesting Season and Migratory Coastal Birds | Bethany Carl Kraft | Audubon | 2024-04-04

Highlights conservation efforts for coastal birds that use beaches for nesting, migration and wintering.

Where Do Birds Go Offshore? The Answers May Be Blowing in the Wind | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2024-03-19

Describes research collaborations using offshore wind infrastructure to improve knowledge of bird, bat, and butterfly movements over the ocean.

As Spring Shifts Earlier, Migrating Birds Struggle to Keep Up | Maddie Burakoff | Audubon | 2024-03-07

Examines mismatches between migration schedules and increasingly early seasonal food availability caused by warming temperatures.

The New PBS Nature Special Highlights Epic Shorebird Migrations | Felice Stadler | Audubon | 2024-02-05

Discusses extraordinary migrations of godwits, curlews and Red Knots and the conservation challenges affecting their flyways.

Conserving at Flyway Scales | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2023-10-12

Explains why wetlands conservation for migratory birds is organized around flyways rather than political boundaries.

Motus Stations: Tracking Migrations from Coast to Coast | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2023-05-31

Describes a continent-wide automated radio telemetry network that tracks tagged birds and other small migratory animals over long distances.

Wetlands—A Vital Lifeline for Migratory Birds | Wetlands International Europe | Wetlands International | 2023-05-08

Explains why migratory birds depend on a chain of wetlands for feeding, resting, breeding, and winter survival.

How Migratory Birds Connect Countries | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | 2023-03-29

Uses tracking data to map the geopolitical connections created by migratory landbirds and raptors across the African-Eurasian flyway.

Report on the Conservation Status of Migratory Waterbirds of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway | Wetlands International | Wetlands International | 2022-07-19

Assesses the conservation status of hundreds of migratory waterbird populations using one of the world’s largest and most threatened flyways.

Recent Bird Sightings on the Upper Mississippi River | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2022

Documents the seasonal arrival of ducks, swans, pelicans and other migrants using the Upper Mississippi River corridor.

Is Bird Migration Getting More Dangerous? | Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Living Bird / All About Birds | 2021

Examines growing hazards to migrating birds, including artificial light, habitat loss, collisions, and changing environmental conditions.

Tens of Millions of Western Birds Depend on These Two Regions During Migration | National Audubon Society | Audubon | 2021

Highlights key western stopover regions used by vast numbers of birds traveling the Pacific Flyway.

Chicago’s Rose the Piping Plover Reaches Florida | Audubon | Audubon | 2021

Tracks a banded Great Lakes Piping Plover to its regular winter territory on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Is the Secret to Saving Migratory Birds in the Meal Prep? | Smithsonian National Zoo Staff | Smithsonian Magazine | 2020-12-17

Explains the importance of food availability and stopover habitat for songbirds and shorebirds making long-distance seasonal journeys.

Migratory Service Stations: How Wetlands Help Birds Migrate | WWT | Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust | 2020-11-02

Explains how staging wetlands function as refueling and resting sites that can determine whether migrants complete their journeys successfully.

Fall Migration Is Already Underway | Audubon | Audubon | 2020

Explains why southbound migration begins surprisingly early for many Arctic shorebirds and western seabirds.

The Great Migration: Flyway Home | WWT | Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust | 2019-10-01

Follows long-distance waterbird movements into the United Kingdom and emphasizes protecting habitat at every stage of the flyway.

The Next Frontier: Unraveling Tropical Bird Migration | Leila Nilipour | Smithsonian Magazine | 2018-10-13

Explores the comparatively poorly understood migrations of birds moving within tropical South America.

The Evolution of Bird Migration | Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Living Bird / All About Birds | 2017-04-11

Explores how migration evolves and why different bird species move over dramatically different distances and routes.

The Flyways Concept Can Help Coordinate Global Efforts to Conserve Migratory Birds | BirdLife International | BirdLife DataZone | 2015

Argues that protecting migratory birds requires coordinated conservation across the full chain of breeding, stopover, and wintering sites.

Trans-equatorial Migration of Short-tailed Shearwaters Revealed by Geolocators | British Antarctic Survey | British Antarctic Survey | 2014-12-22

Reports tracking of Short-tailed Shearwaters moving across the equator, demonstrating the scale and complexity of oceanic seabird migration.

Improving Stopover Habitat for Birds | Michele Berger | Audubon | 2012

Discusses efforts to identify and improve critical resting and feeding habitat for migratory songbirds.

Arctic Terns Confirmed to Have the Longest Animal Migration in the World | British Antarctic Survey | British Antarctic Survey | 2010-01-12

Describes geolocator research that mapped the enormous annual pole-to-pole migration of Arctic terns.

Global Flyways | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | n.d.

Provides an overview of the major global migration corridors used by billions of birds crossing continents, deserts, mountains, and oceans.

East Asian-Australasian Flyway | BirdLife International | BirdLife International | n.d.

Introduces the migration route linking Arctic breeding grounds with East and Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Migratory Birds | BirdLife International | BirdLife DataZone | n.d.

Summarizes the global threats to migratory birds and the need for coordinated action on habitat, hunting, infrastructure, and flyway protection.

Bird Migration Explorer | National Audubon Society | Audubon | n.d.

Interactive migration resource covering more than 450 bird species and the places and threats they encounter throughout their annual cycles.

Pacific Flyway | National Audubon Society | Audubon | n.d.

Examines climate-related threats to birds and habitats along the Pacific Flyway, including drought, fire, extreme heat, and urbanization.

A New Golden Age of Observation Is Revealing Night Migration | Audubon Magazine | Audubon | n.d.

Describes how radar, tracking technology and community science are revealing the scale of nocturnal bird migration.

A Pioneering Collaboration Opens a New Window Into Bird Migration | Audubon Magazine | Audubon | n.d.

Examines efforts to integrate tracking and population data across the full annual cycles of migratory birds.

Marine Migratory Species

Leatherback Turtle | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026-08-03

Profiles one of the world’s most far-ranging reptiles, including trans-Pacific migrations between tropical nesting beaches and rich temperate feeding grounds.

Atlantic Salmon Fish Passage and Dams | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026-08

Explains how dams and other barriers affect Atlantic salmon that must migrate between freshwater rivers and the ocean.

North Atlantic Right Whale | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026-08

Describes seasonal whale movements along the Atlantic coast and the conservation challenges created by ship strikes and fishing-gear entanglement.

Loggerhead Turtle | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026-07

Explains the long-distance movements loggerheads make between juvenile ocean habitats, coastal feeding areas, and natal nesting beaches.

Green Turtle | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026-07

Describes adult green turtles migrating between coastal feeding grounds and nesting beaches where they return to reproduce.

Southern Right Whale | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026-07

Covers annual movements between high-latitude feeding areas and lower-latitude breeding grounds in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Ice That Once Saved Bowhead Whales Is Vanishing | Bethany Brookshire | National Geographic | 2026-04-30

Examines the relationship among bowhead whale movements, Arctic sea ice, historical hunting and modern climate change.

Sea Turtles | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026

Provides an overview of sea turtle species that migrate hundreds or thousands of miles between feeding habitats and nesting beaches.

Gray Whale Calf Count Increases from All-Time Low | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026

Reports on calves observed during the northward gray whale migration and what the count may indicate about population condition.

Gray Whale | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026

Profiles a whale famous for one of the longest annual mammal migrations, traveling between Arctic feeding areas and Mexican breeding lagoons.

Humpback Whale | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026

Describes humpback migrations between productive high-latitude feeding grounds and tropical or subtropical breeding and calving waters.

Greater Atlantic Region Sea Turtle Program | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026

Explains seasonal north-south movements of sea turtles along the U.S. Atlantic coast as ocean temperatures warm and cool.

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026

Explains management of migratory tunas, sharks, swordfish, and billfish that range across the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf.

Mapping Where Marine Megafauna Move | Simon Harold | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 2026

Discusses large-scale tracking research identifying important movement corridors used by highly migratory marine vertebrates.

Where the Leatherbacks Roam | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2025

Highlights satellite-tracking research that identified important Atlantic foraging areas and migration corridors used by leatherback turtles.

Highly Migratory Species | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2025

Introduces tunas, sharks, swordfish, billfish, and other pelagic fishes whose migrations cross national and international boundaries.

Climate Change Charts a Dangerous Course for the World’s Largest Fish | Conservation International | Conservation International | n.d.

Discusses how warming seas may shift whale shark movements toward heavily trafficked shipping routes, increasing collision risk.

Gray Whale | National Geographic Staff | National Geographic | n.d.

Profiles the gray whale’s extraordinary annual journey between Arctic feeding areas and breeding lagoons off Mexico.

Migratory Fish and Freshwater Connectivity

How to See Pacific Salmon Make Their Epic Annual Migration | Melissa Hobson | National Geographic | 2026-08-21

Follows Pacific salmon returning from the ocean to natal rivers in one of North America’s most dramatic annual wildlife movements.

Reopening Rivers for Migratory Fish | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026-07

Explains how dam removal, culvert replacement, and habitat restoration reconnect spawning and nursery habitat for migratory fish.

World Fish Migration Day | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2026

Profiles salmon, steelhead, eels, sturgeon, shad, and other fishes that depend on free movement between freshwater and marine habitats.

Successful Fish Passage Efforts Across the Nation | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2025

Reviews river-restoration projects that help salmon, shad, alewives, sturgeon, and other migratory fish reach spawning and rearing habitat.

Fun Facts About Amazing Atlantic Salmon | NOAA Fisheries | NOAA Fisheries | 2025

Introduces the Atlantic salmon life cycle, including the smolt migration from freshwater to the ocean and the later return to natal rivers.

What Is a Fish Ladder? | NOAA National Ocean Service | NOAA | 2024

Explains how engineered fish ladders help salmon and other migratory fish move around dams and other river barriers.

In the News: Salmon & Steelhead Reintroduction Efforts | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | 2024

Discusses reintroducing migratory salmon and steelhead to upstream habitats that were historically blocked by large dams.

Riverscapes, Dam Removal and River Restoration | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | 2022

Uses the Elwha River as an example of how dam removal can reopen extensive habitat to salmon, lamprey, trout, and other migratory fishes.

Not Just Sea Life: Migratory Fish, Birds and Mammals Also Fall Foul of Plastic | Mongabay Staff | Mongabay | 2021-09

Shows why animals that move across many habitats can encounter plastic pollution repeatedly along their migration routes.

Salmon | National Geographic Staff | National Geographic | 2021

Explains the salmon life cycle and the demanding migration from freshwater to the ocean and back again to spawn.

USGS Fish Passage Research Helps Fish Get to Spawning Grounds | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | 2018

Explains the ecological and economic importance of helping migratory fish reach upstream spawning habitat.

Fish Passage | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | n.d.

Collects research on barriers and passage technologies for migratory fishes, including American eels moving between freshwater and the ocean.

When Can Salmon Be Seen Migrating to Their Spawning Area? | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | n.d.

Summarizes the seasonal timing of Pacific and Atlantic salmon runs as adults migrate upstream to spawn.

How Far Do Salmon Travel? | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | n.d.

Explains that salmon may travel hundreds of miles from natal streams to the ocean and then range widely before returning to reproduce.

Terrestrial Mammal Migrations

Can South Sudan’s Great Antelope Migration Be Saved? | National Geographic Staff | National Geographic | 2026

Examines one of the world’s largest overland wildlife migrations and the challenge of balancing conservation, development, and local livelihoods.

USGS Mapping of Western Mule Deer Migration Featured in New Global Atlas | Communications and Publishing | U.S. Geological Survey | 2024-09-09

Highlights the longest documented mule deer migration and its inclusion in a global atlas of ungulate movements.

Mapped: 33 New Big Game Migrations Across American West | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | 2024

Adds dozens of mapped routes for mule deer, elk, pronghorn, and other ungulates, helping managers identify bottlenecks and priority corridors.

How to See the Gray Whale Migration and Help Save a Life | The Marine Mammal Center | The Marine Mammal Center | 2023-02-15

Describes gray whales’ long annual journey between Arctic feeding grounds and Mexican breeding lagoons and offers context for coastal observations.

Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States, Volume 3 | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | 2023

Maps migration routes and seasonal ranges for western ungulates, providing detailed corridor information for land and wildlife management.

Ungulate Migration in a Changing Climate | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | 2022

Assesses how warming, altered snowpack, drought, vegetation changes, and extreme events may affect elk, mule deer, and pronghorn migration.

New Maps Document Big-Game Migrations Across the Western United States | U.S. Geological Survey | U.S. Geological Survey | 2020

Describes a collaborative effort to map migration routes used by mule deer, elk, pronghorn, moose, and bison across the American West.

A Warming Arctic Is Changing Animal Migrations | Earth.Org Staff | Earth.Org | 2020

Examines how rapid Arctic warming is changing the timing and movement of migratory animals such as caribou.

How Botswana Revived Africa’s Largest Mammal Migration | National Geographic Staff | National Geographic | 2018

Explains how removing fences and reconnecting landscapes helped restore long-distance zebra migration in Botswana.

Longest Migration Among African Mammals Discovered | Jennifer S. Holland | National Geographic | 2014-05-27

Reports the discovery of a roughly 300-mile zebra migration across Namibia and Botswana, demonstrating how much large-animal movement can remain undocumented.

Marine Mammal Monday: Magnificent Migrations | The Marine Mammal Center | The Marine Mammal Center | n.d.

Uses gray whale migration data to explore how changing ocean conditions may alter one of the longest mammal migrations.

Photo-Identification Field Research: Meet the Whales | The Marine Mammal Center | The Marine Mammal Center | n.d.

Uses photo-identification to follow individual whales and document changing patterns in gray whale migration and San Francisco Bay use.

Insect and Bat Migration

Why Unusually Large Swarms of Dragonflies Are Everywhere in the Bay Area | SFGATE Staff | SFGATE | 2026-08

Examines a recent surge in dragonfly abundance and notes that some species migrate seasonally through California along routes also used by raptors.

Save the Monarch | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2026-07

Summarizes the decline of North American monarchs and conservation actions aimed at sustaining their long-distance migration and overwintering sites.

Monarch Tracking Gets a High-Tech Upgrade in Coastal California | Colleen Grant | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2026-02-02

Tiny radio transmitters are being tested to reveal how western monarchs move among overwintering and feeding habitats.

Butterflies Are in Dramatic Decline Across North America | Smithsonian Magazine Staff | Smithsonian Magazine | 2026

Uses western monarchs to illustrate the causes and conservation implications of widespread butterfly declines.

Join the Monarch Blitz | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2025-07-21

A continent-wide community-science project gathers observations of monarchs and milkweed to improve understanding of population trends.

Monarch Butterfly Migration Map | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2025

Maps the eastern and western North American monarch populations, their breeding ranges, and their distinct overwintering destinations.

The Kaleidoscope of Monarch Migration | Ali Crowley | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2024-09-12

Describes the 3,000-mile southbound monarch migration and the habitats butterflies require to rest and refuel along the way.

Understanding Monarch Migration in the Southeast | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2024-04-18

Examines evidence that eastern monarch migration patterns may be changing and describes citizen-science efforts to track those changes.

Migration: It’s a Risky Journey! | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2023

Explains why birds migrate and examines the energetic demands, habitat needs and hazards they encounter during long-distance movements.

An Epic Monarch Migration Faces New Threats | Joshua Hammer | Smithsonian Magazine | 2021-05

Examines climate change, habitat loss and pesticides threatening monarchs along their multi-thousand-mile migration route.

What I Learned Biking the 10,000-Mile Migration Route of Monarch Butterflies | Sara Dykman | Smithsonian Magazine | 2021-04-14

Follows a cyclist who traveled from Mexico to Canada and back while documenting monarch migration and conservation.

Five Super Stops on the Monarch Migration Trail | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2021

Highlights refuge sites where migrating monarchs can find nectar and shelter during their long journey across North America.

The Phenomenal Monarch Migration | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 2021

Explains the unusual long-lived monarch generation that flies thousands of miles south to Mexico and delays reproduction until the return journey begins.

Researchers Record Trillions of Migrating Insects | Jason Daley | Smithsonian Magazine | 2016-12-29

Radar research reveals enormous seasonal insect migrations involving trillions of individual animals.

Scientists Are Still Baffled by Monarch Migration | Smithsonian Magazine Staff | Smithsonian Magazine | 2015

Explores unanswered questions about population trends and the monarch’s unusual multigenerational migration.

Five Surprises That Emerged From Monarch Butterfly Genomes | Smithsonian Magazine Staff | Smithsonian Magazine | 2014

Genetic research provides clues about the evolutionary origins and geographic spread of monarch migratory behavior.

Butterflies Take Flight in New 3-D IMAX Film | Leah Binkovitz | Smithsonian Magazine | 2012-10-19

Discusses the monarch’s remarkable navigation and long-distance migration between North America and central Mexico.

Monarch (Danaus plexippus) | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | n.d.

Provides a species overview emphasizing the monarch’s extraordinary multigenerational migration and the habitat losses contributing to its decline.

Wind Energy | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | n.d.

Reviews collision risks to migratory tree-roosting bats and notes that fatalities peak during late-summer and fall migration.

Partnering to Conserve Monarchs Across North America | Bridget Macdonald | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | n.d.

Explains multinational conservation of a butterfly whose migration links Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Monarch Butterfly Facts and Migration | National Geographic Staff | National Geographic | n.d.

Explains the monarch life cycle and the extraordinary fall generation that migrates from northern North America to central Mexico.

Migration Science, Ecology, Climate, and Tracking

A Cross-Species Perspective on Migration in the Anthropocene | Magda Bou Dagher Kharrat et al. | npj Climate Action | 2026-08-20

Compares migration across animals, plants and humans and considers mobility as an ecological response to rapid environmental change.

China’s Intertidal Mariculture as a Lifeline for a Threatened Shorebird Flyway | Researchers | Nature Communications | 2025-12-09

Finds that some aquaculture landscapes unexpectedly provide important feeding habitat for migrating shorebirds.

Monsoon Winds Create an Expressway for Migratory Shorebirds | Hengjun Xiao et al. | Communications Earth & Environment | 2025-12-04

Satellite tracking demonstrates how migrating shorebirds exploit monsoon winds to increase speed and lower the energetic cost of travel.

Birds, Bats and Bugs: The Teeming World Above Our Heads | Ari Daniel | Smithsonian Magazine | 2025-10-23

Explores aeroecology and emerging technologies for studying animals moving through the atmosphere.

Direct Mortality Due to Humans Threatens Migratory Shorebirds | D. Liang et al. | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 2025-09-09

Finds that hunting, fisheries interactions and bird-deterrence practices are causing significant mortality along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

Scope for Waterfowl to Speed Up Migration to a Warming Arctic | Hans Linssen et al. | Nature Climate Change | 2025-09-09

Examines whether Arctic-breeding waterfowl can adjust migration speed sufficiently to keep pace with increasingly early springs.

Southern Ocean Humpback Whales Are Shifting to an Earlier Return Migration | Rebecca Dunlop et al. | Scientific Reports | 2025-07-02

Long-term observations indicate humpback whales are changing migration timing as Southern Ocean conditions change.

Long-Distance Migration Promotes Genetic Diversity in Boreal Birds | T. M. Pegan et al. | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 2025-05-20

Investigates evolutionary relationships between long-distance seasonal migration and genetic diversity among boreal bird species.

Marine Megavertebrate Migrations Connect the Global Ocean | Lily K. Bentley et al. | Nature Communications | 2025-05-08

Maps migration connections for more than one hundred marine species, demonstrating how animals link distant national waters and the high seas.

Migrating Baleen Whales Transport High-Latitude Nutrients to Tropical Ecosystems | Joe Roman et al. | Nature Communications | 2025-03-10

Shows how whale migrations move nutrients from productive polar feeding grounds into nutrient-poor tropical breeding regions.

Migratory Behaviour of Humpback Whales Under Climate Change | Virginie Millien et al. | Scientific Reports | 2025-02-01

Investigates how climate variability may be changing the timing and geography of southeastern Pacific humpback whale migrations.

I Track Bird Movement to Enhance Conservation Efforts | Nikki Forrester | Nature | 2024-11-04

Profiles research using tracking technology to understand movements and protect declining migratory birds.

Synchrony of Bird Migration With Global Dispersal of Avian Influenza | Qiqi Yang et al. | Nature Communications | 2024-02-06

Compares bird migration timing with the geographic spread of avian influenza and identifies groups particularly exposed to disease movement.

Low Migratory Connectivity in a Shorebird With Contrasting Population Trends | Researchers | Scientific Reports | 2024

Tracking research examines how differences in wintering regions can affect populations belonging to the same migratory shorebird species.

Migratory Lifestyle Carries No Added Overall Energy Cost in a Songbird | Researchers | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 2024

Physiological monitoring of partially migratory blackbirds challenges assumptions that migration necessarily increases total annual energy expenditure.

Lucy Alice Hawkes Is Tracking Animal Migration to the Ends of the Earth | National Geographic Staff | National Geographic | 2023-07-21

Profiles research tracking tuna, turtles, birds and other mobile animals to understand how and why they migrate.

Animal Migration Research Collection | Nature Portfolio | Scientific Reports / Nature Portfolio | 2023

Collects research on migration mechanisms, climate impacts, ecological interactions, conservation and animal movement across many taxa.

The Influence of Social Cues on Timing of Animal Migrations | William K. Oestreich et al. | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 2022-10-24

Reviews how information from other animals influences when migrants begin or alter their journeys.

Compensation for Wind Drift During Raptor Migration Improves With Age | Fabrizio Sergio et al. | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 2022-06-09

Tracking reveals how raptors cope with crosswinds and how migration performance changes among surviving older birds.

Evolutionary Causes and Consequences of Ungulate Migration | Joel O. Abraham et al. | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 2022-05-05

Investigates how migration evolved repeatedly among hoofed mammals and how it relates to grasslands, seasonality and body size.

Technology Has Taught Us Much About Migratory Birds—But Can It Save Them? | Earth.Org Staff | Earth.Org | 2022

Reviews advances in tracking technology and how movement data can guide conservation decisions for migratory species.

Martin Wikelski: Investigating Migratory Patterns of Wildlife | National Geographic | National Geographic | 2021

Profiles a scientist developing global animal-tracking systems to study migration, environmental change, disease spread, and conservation.

How Scientists Are Using the Internet to Better Track Animals | Earth.Org Staff | Earth.Org | 2020

Describes the ICARUS concept of using space-based receivers to track large numbers of small animals and build a global picture of migration.

Migrant Birds and Mammals Live Faster Than Residents | Researchers | Nature Communications | 2020

Compares life-history strategies of migratory and resident vertebrates and explores evolutionary tradeoffs associated with migration.

Migratory Coupling Between Predators and Prey | Nathan B. Furey et al. | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 2018-11-22

Explores cases in which predators themselves move long distances in response to migrations of their prey.

Animal Migration | Silke Nebel | Nature Education Knowledge | 2010

Provides a broad scientific introduction to migration in birds, mammals, insects, fish and marine organisms.