Wings allow birds to travel long distances and get to places where an ordinary beast is unable to climb. One of the main features that even young children know about is their flight to warm countries.

During the journey, birds cover thousands of kilometers, and deliberately stretch their path, reaching their destination not across the oceans, along the shortest path, but along the coast. Because of this, it seems that they cannot travel across the ocean. What is the reason for this?

Why do birds fly to warmer countries?

With the onset of winter cold, you can notice how large flocks of birds fly by. They set off on a long journey to end up in warm places, where they spend the winter. Why do birds fly away?

Most will say right away that they cannot survive the cold, but they will be wrong. Birds feel great in the cold. Their body temperature averages 41 degrees, and this means that they do not hibernate, like cold-blooded ones. Moreover, under their feathers, fluff grows, which retains heat well and prevents freezing of the skin.

The main reason why birds fly south is a sharp decrease in food with the onset of cold weather. Most species of this class of animals feed on insects, and the latter just can not be active in the cold.Most bugs and larvae with the onset of frost either die or hibernate. Feeling hunger and lack of food, birds instinctively flock to flocks and go to another, warmer place. There they survive frosts and feed on insects that feel great in warm climates and become easy prey.

Do all birds fly south?

Not all birds, with the onset of cold weather, move to warmer climes. If even in the cold a particular species can feed itself in this territory, it will not go on a trip. A classic example is the woodpecker, which lives year-round in the forest and feeds on larvae hiding behind the tree bark.

Bird classification

There are three classifications of birds.

Migratory

These include species that, with the onset of cold weather, go to warmer climes. As a rule, they feed on insects (well, or animals living in water, the water freezes). In Russia, their representatives are thrush, finch, swallow, lark.

Nomadic

Such species of birds do not fly to warm regions, but constantly move, changing their place of residence in order to search for food. Interestingly, such birds can even make a nest, which will be used for only a couple of weeks. For example, having settled on a tree with rowan berries, the bird lives on it until it eats all the fruits, then goes in search of another source of food, looking for it in the middle of snowy territories. Representatives: bullfinch, crossbill, siskin.

Wintering

These birds do not fly away with the onset of cold weather, they feed on everything they can find in a small area. Representatives: woodpecker, tit, tit, whip, waxwing.

Thus, even in winter, some birds can be found in cities and in nature. This means that they have enough food.

Interesting fact: Representatives of the same species may be of different types. For example, city pigeons can stay for the winter, and pigeons that live in nature or near villages go to warmer climes.

Why can't migratory birds travel across the ocean?

In fact, some species may. These include the small godwit, which, with the onset of cold weather, flies out of Alaska and crosses the Pacific Ocean, reaching New Zealand.

But most species of birds heading south really cannot fly over the ocean. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, many simply do not have enough stamina, especially this applies to young individuals who hatched shortly before the onset of cold weather. Secondly, it will be difficult for any living creature to navigate in space when there is nothing around except water.

Because of this, birds are forced to fly mainly along the earth's route. So it’s easier for them to navigate, and there is the opportunity at any time to land for rest.

Migratory birds cannot travel across the ocean due to lack of stamina and inability to navigate in the middle of boundless waters. The birds build a route in such a way that they can land at any time for recreation, as well as understand their location on the terrestrial landscape and prominent objects.