# Spring v. Fall - Same or Different?



## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

The longer we have a spring season, the more I see similarities between the spring and fall migrations. Now, there are a lot of differences, but I notice more similarities every year. As the years go by, I am noticing something about the spring migration that we all know about the fall migration: the same spots have the ability to attract birds year after year, at more or less the same stage of the migration. I used to think the spring migration was very random, I'm finding out that it is not random at all. I'm finding some well-defined areas that seem to hold birds on a pretty regular basis.

I wondering whether others have noticed the same thing?


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Yup

Could be that some of the birds we are hunting are 15 years old  and we use the term "dumb animals"

Bob


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## duckslayer (Oct 30, 2003)

Not sure about fall snows and spring snows holding same areas. I am yet to find an area holding snows this spring where we shot snows last fall. However, for the last 3 springs there have been geese in the same spot each year. Same crop each year, but there are always birds there and every year it seems to be about the same amount as the year before(5-7k).


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

The same areas will hold geese every year how long they hold geese is the variable factor in the spring. The birds came through much farther east this year than they have in the past 3 years.


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## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

Slayer, I'm not saying that I hunt the same areas in the spring that I do in the fall, although some guys in the northern tier most likely do. I'm talking about small well-defined areas that have been good on a consistent basis each spring.

Bob, you make a good point. I've read books on migration that indicate tremendous numbers of birds of a particular species (hawks, swallows, etc.)seem to have an innate ability to find an exact spot to stage,a very narrow corridor to migrate through, etc.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Yes and No. Yes, they do tend to use the same areas, but how many use the flyway changes every spring.

My :2cents:


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## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

Chris, I would whole-heartedly agree with that statement for the spring migration. And the fall migration too. I've always thought in the fall that the nuances of the migration depend on habitat and weather. Where are the good crops, where are the hailed-out areas, where is it wet, what's the weather. Takes a lot of work to figure that out. Maybe that kind of sums up the spring migration too.


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