It’s a Bird.... It’s a plane... It’s Spring on Fripp Island. Contributed By: Andrew Holzinger, Seasonal Naturalist Fripp Island Resort.
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s the days grow longer and warmer and flowers start to bloom, there are many obvious signs that Spring is coming. For us, that means holidays with family, spring break, and more time at the beach. This change in nature also has an amazing effect on the creatures we share Fripp Island with, which we may see if we look closely. Birds have always been one of my favorite groups of animals, and the more I learn about them and their habits, the more I am amazed and impressed. While Fripp sees its own human migration this time of year, as many families flock to the beaches to soak up the sand and sun or residents who spend their mild winters here return north to their summer homes, birds across the world are beginning to move as well. Lucky for them, birds lack the responsibilities we must worry about this time of
year (like tax season) and instead focus solely on two tasks: to feed themselves and to pass on their legacy. Many of the birds found in the Eastern United States alternate their time between warm winter vacations in South Florida, the Caribbean, or Central/South America before returning to Canada’s cool boreal forests or the Appalachians in summer to breed. Consider the blackpoll warbler, a relatively small, nondescript bird sporting handsome patterns of black and white. This bird (weighing only 12 grams) has been found to fly for three straight days across the ocean from Columbia and Venezuela to stop only once they see the United States, including areas like South Carolina. During this event, they refuel themselves on the bugs that are also beginning to come out in the newfound warmth before they continue their migration, perhaps all the way to Alaska.
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