A study published in the journal Scientific Reports in 2018 showed that for two decades, veery migration patterns from Delaware to South America accurately predicted the intensity of the Atlantic Basin hurricane season. During bad years, the birds would wrap up their breeding season sooner and head down to South America early, and during mild years, the birds hung out in eastern North America for longer.
An ornithologist in Delaware has been studying Veeries for the past twenty years and he recently discovered that they can predict the severity of the hurricane season months in advance. Their predictions are more accurate than the best models humans are capable of producing. Veeries are a thrush that overwinters in South America and breeds in the northern US. This means they are flying across the Gulf Of Mexico in the spring and fall. Their fall migration coincides with peak hurricane season in August through October. Bird migration is remarkable in many respects and now we know about this additional layer of complexity that shows that birds are tuned into global weather patterns. “Hurricanes occur at the same time they’re migrating. If they end breeding season early, they can get down there sooner. It makes sense that they would figure it out somehow,” says study leader Christopher Heckscher, an ecologist at Delaware State University. Heckscher thinks the birds get their meteorological intel from their wintering grounds in South America, where the large-scale weather patterns that influence hurricane seasons unfold long before a hurricane forms. Something is happening in their blood chemistry or hormones that’s causing them to stop breeding at a certain time,”

Veeries adjust their breeding activities and migration based on this understanding of broad weather patterns. In years with severe hurricanes, Veeries initiate nesting earlier, lay fewer eggs and depart on fall migration earlier to avoid flying over the ocean during a hurricane. The high winds and severe weather associated with hurricanes cause a variety of problems for migrating birds like the Veery. There is outright mortality as well as the possibility of getting forced down into increasingly fragmented and poor quality habitat. Migration is an arduous journey that has been finely tuned over millions of years and birds are operating on tight energetic budgets. Any new or additional challenge during this journey limits their fitness and ability to thrive.

Veeries are small birds, weighing anywhere between 20 and 50 grams. One theory for how their predict hurricanes: when more rain falls in their South American habitat, more fruit is available, making them fitter and more capable of staying in North America for longer.A thrush which favors young, wet woodland, the Veery is a retiring bird with an ethereal song that is most often heard well before the bird is seen.

The Veery is at home in dense, moist, leafy undergrowth near water. In Washington it is found primarily in riparian zones on the eastern slope of the Cascades from May to August.
#birds #veerythrush #thrush #birdwatching #birding #birdslovers #allbirds #birders #allbirdsinformation


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