Every passage below is reprinted word for word from Frederick C. Lincoln’s Migration of Birds, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Circular 16 (1950 edition), whose chapters on flight speed and flight altitude are cited in full at the end.

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The mile-a-minute myth

There is a widespread misconception concerning the speed at which birds normally fly, and even regarding the speed they can attain when occasion demands, as when closely pursued by an enemy. It is not unusual to hear accounts of birds flying “a mile a minute.” While undoubtedly some birds can and do attain a speed even greater than this, such cases are exceptional, and it is safe to say that even when pressed, few can develop an air speed of 60 miles an hour.

They do, however, have two speeds, one being the normal rate for everyday purposes and also for migration, and an accelerated speed for escape or pursuit; this in some cases may be nearly double the normal rate of movement. Nevertheless, it is doubtful if the effort required for the high speeds could be long sustained, and certainly not for the long-distance migratory journeys that are regularly made by most birds.

The theory that migrating birds attain high speeds received encouragement from the German ornithologist Gätke (1895), who for many years made observations on birds at the island of Heligoland. He postulated that the blue-throat, a species of thrush smaller than the American hermit thrush, would leave African winter quarters at dusk and reach Heligoland at dawn, which would mean a sustained speed of 200 miles an hour, and that the American golden plover flew from the coast of Labrador to Brazil in 15 hours, or at the tremendous speed of 250 miles an hour. Most ornithologists now consider these conclusions to be unwarranted.

Sportsmen also often greatly overestimate the speed at which ducks and geese fly and sometimes attempt to substantiate their estimates by mathematical calculation, based upon the known velocity of a charge of shot, the estimated distance and the estimated “lead” that was necessary to hit the bird. If all three elements of the equation were known with certainty, the speed of the bird could be determined with a fair degree of accuracy.

The majority of the ducks that are reported as killed at 40, 50, or even 60 yards, however, actually are shot at distances much less than estimated. To sight along a gun barrel and estimate correctly the distance of a moving object against the sky is so nearly impossible for the average gunner as to make such calculations of little value.

What the stopwatch and speedometer say

During the past few years reliable data on the speed of birds have accumulated slowly. It has been found that a common flying speed of ducks and geese is between 40 and 50 miles an hour, and that it is much less among the smaller birds. Herons, hawks, horned larks, ravens, and shrikes, timed with the speedometer of an automobile, have been found to fly 22 to 28 miles an hour, while some of the flycatchers are such slow fliers that they attain only 10 to 17 miles an hour.

Even such fast-flying birds as the mourning dove rarely exceed 35 miles an hour. All these birds can fly faster, but it is to be remembered that at training camps during World War I, airplanes having a maximum speed of about 80 miles an hour easily overtook flocks of ducks that, it may be supposed, were making every effort to escape.

Aviators have claimed that at 65 miles an hour they can overtake the fastest ducks, though cases are on record of ducks passing airplanes that were making 55 miles an hour.

The greatest bird speeds that have been reliably recorded are of the swifts and the duck hawk, or peregrine falcon. An observer in an airplane in Mesopotamia reported that swifts easily circled his ship when it was traveling at 68 miles an hour. To do this, the birds certainly were flying at a speed as high as 100 miles an hour.

Once a hunting duck hawk, timed with a stop watch, was calculated to have attained a speed between 165 and 180 miles an hour.

Aviators have claimed that at 65 miles an hour they can overtake the fastest ducks, though cases are on record of ducks passing airplanes that were making 55 miles an hour.

Measured speeds, bird by bird

Migration is slower than flight

The speed of migration, however, is quite different from that attained in forced flights for short distances. A sustained flight of 10 hours a day would carry herons, hawks, crows, and smaller birds from 100 to 250 miles, while ducks and geese might travel as much as 400 to 500 miles in the same period.

Measured as air-line distances, these journeys are impressive and indicate that birds could cover the ordinary migration route from the northern United States or even from northern Canada to winter quarters in the West Indies or in Central America or South America in a relatively short time. It is probable that individual birds do make flights of the length indicated and that barn swallows seen in May on Beata Island, off the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, may have reached that point after a nonstop flight of 350 miles across the Caribbean Sea from the coast of Venezuela. Nevertheless, whether they continue such journeys day after day is doubtful.

It seems more likely that migrations are performed in a leisurely manner, and that after a flight of a few hours the birds pause to feed and rest for one or several days, particularly if they find themselves in congenial surroundings. Some indication of this is found in the records of banded birds, particularly waterfowl.

Considering only the shortest intervals that have elapsed between banding in the North and recovery in southern regions, it is found that usually a month or more is taken to cover an air-line distance of a thousand miles. For example, a black duck banded at Lake Scugog, Ontario, was killed 12 days later at Vicksburg, Miss.

If the bird was taken shortly after its arrival, the record would indicate an average daily flight of only 83 miles, a distance that could have been covered in about 2 hours’ flying time. Among the thousands of banding records obtained in recent years, evidences of such rapid flight are decidedly scarce, for with few exceptions all thousand-mile flights have required 2 to 4 weeks or more.

Among sportsmen, the blue-winged teal is well known as a fast-flying duck and quite a few of these banded on Canadian breeding grounds have covered 2,300 to 3,000 miles in a 30-day period. Nevertheless, the majority of those that have traveled to South America were not recovered in that region until 2 or 3 months after they were banded.

Probably the fastest flight over a long distance for one of these little ducks was one made by a young male which traveled 3,800 miles from the delta of the Athabaska River, in northern Alberta, Canada, to Maracaibo, Venezuela, in exactly 1 month. This flight was at an average speed of 125 miles per day.

The greatest migration speed thus far recorded for any banded bird is that of a lesser yellowlegs banded at North Eastham, Cape Cod, Mass., on August 28, 1935, and killed 6 days later, 1,900 miles away, at Lamentin, Martinique, French West Indies. This bird traveled an average daily distance of more than 316 miles.

It seems certain that migratory journeys are performed at the normal rate of flight, as this would best conserve the strength of the birds and eliminate the fatigue that would result from effort required for great speed. Migrating birds passing lightships and lighthouses, or crossing the face of the moon, have been observed to fly without hurry or evidence of straining to attain high speed.

Banded birds, clocked over real routes

The birds that race spring north

One of the best examples of rapid migration is found in the gray-cheeked thrush. This bird winters in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and British Guiana and does not start its northward journey until many other species are well on their way. It does not appear in the United States until the last of April–April 25 near the mouth of the Mississippi, and April 30 in northern Florida.

A month later, or by the last week in May, the bird is seen in northwestern Alaska, the 4,000-mile trip from Louisiana having been made at an average speed of about 130 miles a day.

The robin has been mentioned as a slow migrant, and as a species it takes 78 days to make the 3,000-mile trip from Iowa to Alaska, a stretch of country that is crossed by advancing spring in 68 days. In this case, however, it does not mean that individual robins are necessarily slow, for probably the northward movement of the species depends upon the continual advance of birds from the rear, the first individuals arriving in a suitable locality remaining to nest, while the northward movement of the species is continued by those still to come.

Special interest attaches to the great variation in the speed at which birds travel in different sections of the broad flyway extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, by way of the Mississippi and Mackenzie Valleys. The blackpolled warbler furnishes an excellent example. This species winters in north-central South America and migrates in April across the West Indies to Florida.

From this point some individuals fly northwest to the Mississippi Valley, north to Manitoba, northwest to the Mackenzie River, and thence almost due west to western Alaska. In tracing the long route of these birds it is found that a fairly uniform average speed of 30 to 35 miles a day is maintained from the Gulf to Minnesota.

Then comes a spurt, for a week later the blackpolls have reached the central part of the Mackenzie Valley and by the following week they are observed in northwestern Alaska. During the latter part of the journey, therefore, many individuals must average more than 200 miles a day. They use 30 days in traveling from Florida to southern Minnesota, a distance of about 1,000 miles, and scarcely half that time to cover the remaining 2,500 miles to Alaska.

It should be noted that the increased speed is directly associated with the change in direction, the north-and-south course in the Mississippi Valley being accomplished slowly while the northwesterly course across Canada is made at a much greater speed. Increased speed across western Canada to Alaska is also shown by many other birds. A study of all species traveling up the Mississippi Valley indicates an average speed of about 23 miles a day.

From southern Minnesota to southern Manitoba 16 species maintain an average speed of about 40 miles a day. From that point to Lake Athabaska, 12 species travel at an average speed of 72 miles a day; while 5 others travel to Great Slave Lake at 116 miles a day; and another 5 species cover 150 miles a day to reach Alaska. This change is in correlation with a corresponding variation in the isothermal lines, which turn northwestward west of the Great Lakes.

How high they really fly

At one time students of bird migration held firmly to the theory that normal migration takes place at heights above 15,000 feet, reasoning (somewhat uncertainly) that flying becomes easier as altitude is gained. Since the development of the airplane, however, and with it man’s exploration of the upper regions of the air, it has become common knowledge that rarified atmosphere adds greatly to the difficulties of flight.

This is due not only to the reduction in oxygen (whether for gasoline engine or the lungs of a bird) but also to the lack of buoyancy of the rarified air. Such birds as vultures, pelicans, cranes, and some of the hawks feel this the least, since compared with body weight the supporting surface of their wings is very great, but for the smaller and shorter-winged birds lack of buoyancy at high altitudes presents a difficult obstacle in flight. Even when flying close to the earth, small birds have to keep their wings in rapid motion.

Actual knowledge of the altitude of migratory flight is scanty, though estimates obtained by means of the telescope, and still more accurate data resulting from altimeter observation from airplanes, are slowly accumulating. It is, of course, obvious that some birds that cross mountain ranges during migration must attain a great altitude. Observers at an altitude of 14,000 feet in the Himalayas have recorded storks and cranes flying so high that they could be seen only through field glasses.

Being beyond the range of unaided vision they must have been at least 6,000 feet above the observers, or at an actual altitude of 20,000 feet above sea level. Such cases, however, are exceptional as aviators have reported that they rarely meet birds above an altitude of 5,000 feet.

It is now known that migration in general is performed below a height of 3,000 feet above the earth. Some proof of this statement is available. Observations made from lighthouses and other points of vantage indicate that migrants commonly travel at altitudes of a very few feet to a few hundred feet above sea or land.

Sandpipers, sanderlings, and northern phalaropes, observed in migration on the Pacific oceanic route, have been noted to fly so low that they were visible only as they topped a wave. Observers stationed at lighthouses and lightships off the English coast have similarly recorded the passage of land birds, which sometimes flew just above the surface of the water, and rarely above 200 feet.

During the World Wars broad areas in the air were under constant surveillance and among the airplane pilots and observers many took more than a casual interest in birds. Of the several hundred records resulting from their observations only 36 were of birds flying above 5,000 feet, and only 7 above 8,500 feet. Cranes were once recorded at an altitude of 15,000 feet, while the lapwing was the bird most frequently seen at high levels, 8,500 feet being its greatest recorded altitude.

Source

Frederick C. Lincoln, Migration of Birds, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Circular 16 (1950), “Speed of flight and speed of migration” and “Altitude at which birds travel.” Project Gutenberg #65173. Public domain. Project Gutenberg #65173.

Passages reproduced verbatim in continuous runs. Mechanical edits only: hard-wrapped lines rejoined; illustration placeholders and figure cross-references (“(fig. 4)”, “(fig. 6)”) removed; italic underscores dropped. No OCR corrections were needed.