Day 27 of 100 Days of Blogging
10 Birding Hotspots along the Atlantic Flyway
The Atlantic Flyway is one of the four major North American avian highways that serve as migratory arteries, leading birds from their summer breeding to wintering grounds. It encompasses a diverse habit including forests, beaches and coastal wetlands. and stretches from the Arctic southward along the Atlantic coasts of Canada and the United States, all the way to the Caribbean and South America.
Over 500 different bird species travel along the Atlantic Flyway; forty percent of these avian commuters are species of conservation concern. Over 1/3 of North America’s human population lives along this artery, particularly along the US Eastern seaboard. Given the mix of human and avian usage, challenges form a land use perspective are inevitable. The need to balance the requirements of wildlife habitat conservation with those of human activity, such as agriculture, urban sprawl, development, logging and fishing, presents ongoing challenges.
On the positive side, the incredible volume of birds using this migratory route also provides some fantastic opportunities to observe these species! Here are 10 Birding hotspots along the Atlantic Flyway that make for some of the most spectacular birding along the East Coast. The map is interactive. Just click on either the list on the left of the map to highlight the destination, or the number on the map to read the location details.
