The year 2020 turned out to be a very bad year for many migratory bird species in the American west. Particularly, a massive snow storm that swept over vast areas of the Rocky Mountain west killed millions of birds migrating south for the winter. The cause, principally, was complete exhaustion from the exertion of flying over long distances and starvation due to heavy snow cover suddenly rendering birds unable to find food to replenish their energy reserves.
On a fall camping trip in southern Colorado a few days after the epic storm, I found many dead birds amidst countless trees and branches torn from them by concrete-heavy, dripping wet snow. With Spring at our door, fewer birds returning to northern nesting and feeding grounds are roosting in our backyard trees than the numbers I remember seeing in past years. Baring another killing weather event, hopefully, this year’s young of the surviving birds of the 2020 migration will thrive to replenish the numbers lost to the freak September, 2020 snow storm.
Here in southern Colorado, I’ve lately been out to visit layover feeding sites of Sandhill cranes during their annual migration northward. Some regard their epic flight as one of the greatest migrations of any animal on Earth. Here’s a few early shots of their activities as more and more arrive each day.
