birdsoup

The southern hemisphere is just opposite of the northern.  When it is winter here, it is summer down there.  Water drains clockwise in one hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the other.  (actually that isn’t true but many people think it is)  Even non-birders know that before cold winter weather arrives in Canada and the northern states breeding birds migrate southward to warmer climates.

But what about birds that breed at the very southern tip of South America, down near the Strait of Magellan?  Surprisingly Tierra del Fuego is the same distance from the equator as Nome, Alaska is.  When winter weather arrives down there, do those birds migrate northward to warmer weather? 

Yes, they do.  Called Austral Migration the birds head north as there winter approaches just as our birds head south.  This migration is not as well studied as the one we observe, but scientists know that at least 220 species participate in this reverse migration.

It seems odd to think about birds heading north for migration.