From September to November birds migrate over Providence enroute south. The majority of these birds do so at night. That is why the Audubon Society of RI encourages residents to pull shades inside their homes and turn off outdoor lighting during overnight hours because the birds are drawn off their course by bright lights leading to risks of collisions with lit windows and buildings in the city. Take a look at the migration numbers:
1 – billion birds die from window collisions every year in North America
712,900 – birds flew over Providence County at night from 9/20/24 to 9/27/24
88 – acres of habitat is available for migratory birds at Neutaconkanut Park, on Plainfield Street
10,000 – feet above the ground is as high migrating birds can fly
28 – miles per hour is the speed migrating birds flew over Providence County on 9/20/24
1,800 – feet is the altitude migrating birds flew over Providence County on 9/26/24
4,000 – species of birds migrate, or roughly 40% of the total number of bird species on earth
7,000 – miles is the distance some species can fly non-stop during migration
9,300 – acres of natural habitat in RI is maintained by the Audubon Society of RI at their 13 public wildlife refuges
31,100 – birds were in flight over Providence County at peak immigration traffic time 9/26/24 to 9/27/24
Sources:
https://asri.org/file_download/inline/90bb49e7-5375-4497-ba90-97514c26149d
https://dashboard.birdcast.info/region/US-RI-007?night=2024-09-26
Common Yellowthroat (credit: BirdCast)
Gray Catbird (Credit:NestWatch)
Two of the five species of birds that are most commonly spotted migrating over Providence County are the Common Yellowthroat and Gray Catbird, the others are Ovenbird, American Goldfinch, and Wood Thrush.
Nini Stoddard is a proud Providence resident. After living abroad as the child of a US diplomat, she returned to the United States to attend college. She lived in Connecticut and enjoyed working as a librarian, as a director of a regional non-profit, and as a prospect researcher. Nini moved to Providence in 2006 to work at Brown University as a senior prospect researcher. Now retired, she loves local history and volunteering.
