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Page 14 · column 3 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
Birds
From Page B1
diverse bird families in the Western Hemisphere—there are more that 300 species of hummingbirds. Most of them spend their lives in the American tropics. Migration pathways
Let’s take a migratory ride vicariously with one of our hummingbird friends. We’ll have to travel solo, as hummingbirds are solitary by nature. They do not travel in flocks as some other birds do.
We’ll go from here to the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, then fly across the gulf to the general vicinity of the Yucatan Peninsula. The trip over the Gulf is a grueling 18hour, 500-plus mile, non-stop trip. When we complete our trip (and some of us will not), we'll bask for the fall and winter months in the moist tropics of Mexico and Latin/Central America where the food sources are plentiful.
Bird-banders have found that hummingbirds have great “global positioning” mechanisms. Banders have encountered banded birds on the same day each year at the same exact place. This migratory precision is not clearly understood but certainly must be inherited. For centuries the birds and their ancestors have used the same routes—as
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