What the Texas Drought is Doing to Bird Migration
March 1, 2012 | 12:48 PM
By Terrence Henry
If you?re confused by the drought, think of what it must be like for the many migratory birds that usually come to Texas in the winter for food. More from the Associated Press:
Endangered whooping cranes flew 2,500 miles from Canada to Texas, where they usually spend the whole winter. Instead, they pecked around for a short time and flew back. In Nebraska, other cranes never left. Some ducks just kept flying south ? all the way to Belize in Central America. And a snowy owl was spotted near Dallas, only the sixth time that?s ever happened. Throughout the winter, scientists have noticed these and other examples of bizarre bird migrations ? a result, they believe, of flocks becoming desperate for food and habitat becoming increasingly scarce because of the stubborn drought in Texas. The unusually mild winter in the Northeast and Midwest has even persuaded some birds they could stay put, fly shorter distances or turn back north earlier than normal...
