Wingbeat Blog

Home sweet summer home. What was all this for? This comic, this journey? Why do birds like Perry fly thousands of miles, and why do some do it twice a year? How did they know where to go? And most importantly, why are migrating bird populations in decline?

Click on “Read More” below to check out Episode Ten and learn about Perry’s homecoming as he completes his migration journey! Click here to read Episode 9.  

​Perry is so close to the finish line but this could have been his last stop! For good! Perry accidentally got himself tangled in a pile of discarded fishing line. Once again, though, Perry lucked out, a human wandered by and, even more luckily, the human had a pair of scissors. Untangling birds is a difficult and stressful process (for both humans and birds), especially for people not trained or used to handling birds. Most birds are not so lucky though.

​Click on “Read More” below to check out Episode Nine and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the ninth leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 8. Click here to read Episode 10.

Anyone who’s experienced a house fire probably knows how Perry is feeling right now: scared, confused, lost, maybe hoping for the best for others who might be involved. Fires are a serious issue here in California, for birds and humans alike. Thanks to someone’s barn, Perry found a safe place to stay, miles from the fire, but not all animals are so lucky.

Click on “Read More” below to check out Episode Eight and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the eighth leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 7. Click here to read Episode 9.

Perry followed the river north, a lot of birds use major geographical features like rivers and mountains while flying to orient themselves. But what to do when the river dries up? When lakes dry up and water is scarce and spread apart it’s a struggle for migrating birds. Drought and its impacts have become a very real, very scary thing for many of us. ​

​Click on “Read More” below to check out Episode Seven and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the seventh leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 6.  Click here to read Episode 8.

What kind of forest has Perry stumbled on this week? It’s green, but it’s empty: there’s no birds, no insects, nowhere to sleep, and no food. Perry finds nothing of interest to a Little Brown Bird in this ‘forest’ because it’s not a forest at all: it is an overgrown patch of Giant Cane (Arundo donax), an invasive species introduced to California in the 1820s. 

Click on “Read More” below to check out Episode Six and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the sixth leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 5. Click here to read Episode 7. 

This week Perry encounters vast tracts of orchards and farmland. At first, he doesn’t understand what he’s seeing: acres upon acres of the same plants and men spraying the fields. These are common agricultural practices, monocultures and the use of pesticides, but what’s good for us humans is not so great for birds. There are ways to balance the needs of both though, as Perry discovered when he found a flooded field turned bird oasis.

Click on “Read More” below to check out Episode Five and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the fifth leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 4.  Click here to read Episode 6.​

Not too much further into his migration, Perry hits his first big city. He was attracted by the lights, the city acting like a beacon in the night, but Perry found out quickly the city is a harsh place for a little brown bird. With cities becoming more common than open fields or forests, more birds are coming across challenges that they are not used to facing: smog, urban predators, lack of places to feed, noise and light pollution, and building collisions. 

Click on “Read More” below to check out Episode Four and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the fourth leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 3. Click here to read Episode 5. ​

A week into his journey, Perry was flying over something incredibly shocking: miles and miles of tree stumps. What was once a thriving forest is now a lifeless desert. Perry was shocked and dismayed, where would he rest? The forest Perry runs into has been clearcut, which is a logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Why is deforestation such a major issue for birds like Perry?

Click on “Read More” below to check out Episode Three and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the third leg of his jounrney and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 2. Click Here to read Episode 4.​

It’s not been long since Perry left his home and he’s decided to make his first stop at a small town where he’s just hoping to stop and refresh himself. Instead, Perry has quite the adventure, meeting two dangerous predators and narrowly escaping with his life. A predator is any animal that naturally preys on others. Perry was lucky this time, but thousands of little birds run a similar ‘gauntlet’ every day.

​Click on “Read More” below to check out Episode Two and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the second leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 1. Click here to read Episode 3.