This is Burdnote.

Imagine yourself in the stratosphere looking down on North America.

In spring and fall, you'll see what look like huge rivers of ducks, sea birds, shorebirds, raptors, and songbirds.

Migrants are moving along the four major North American flyways.

In the spring, these rivers of birds flow north.

At the end of the breeding season, the rivers flow south.

After spending the winter in the southern tier of states,

or Central America, or even as far away as South America, millions of

birds return each spring to the northern latitudes. One of the world champions of

long-distance migration is the Arctic Turn.

Arctic Turns nest across the far northern reaches of the continent during our summer,

then fly south to Antarctica for the rest of the year.

Some will circle the polar ice pack before heading north again, completing a total round trip of up to 50,000 miles.

Every year. You can see a map of this amazing migration begin at our website bird note

dot org. I'm Mary McCann.