Summer Homes

Winter is harsh in upstate New York as most of you know, cold temperature, lots and lots of snow, and it's long.  Starting in the middle of march migratory birds start arriving back to their summer breeding grounds, some go as for north as the upper reaches of the tundra and some stay here. The reason why birds come back up instead of staying in their winter homes is that there is plenty of food in the north with many bug hatches providing a plethora of food and there are not as many predators as there would be if they stayed in the southern parts.

Tree Swallow (Tachycienta bicolor)

One example of a migratory bird is the Tree Swallow which spends it's winters in central and south america and then migrates back to its wintering homes as far north as the upper stretches of Canada. The Tree Swallow is a fairly common small bird which lives in open fields where it eats bugs. They are one of the more common birds that people have in bird houses if next to a field. They feed on flying insects which causes them to live next to open areas where these incests are abundant.