This week, to introduce you to some bird migration information, I’ve put together a short matching quiz to see what you might already know, or … don’t know.

Match the summer resident bird to where it migrates for the winter

1.___ Broad-winged hawk

2.___ Barn swallow

3. ___ Turkey vulture

4.___ Ruby-throated hummingbird

5.___ American robin

6.___ Tree swallow

7.___ Scarlet tanager

A. Southern Pennsylvania

B. Carolinas, Georgia

C. Brazilian rain forest

D. Central America/Yucatán

E. Argentina

F. Virginia/Carolina coastal areas

G. Peru

I have the answers for you in the column, so try this without “cheatin’.”

It may surprise you that most of the birds that breed in our region or in Canada and then winter in the tropics only spend about three months here.

The majority of their lives (about six months) are spent on their wintering areas. The remaining three months or so are spent migrating and feeding en route to those areas.

The broad-winged hawk flies to the areas in or around Peru while the barn swallow flies all the way to Argentina. Broad-winged hawks soar on thermals so they can expend as little energy as possible on such a long trip.

The beautiful scarlet tanager loses its bright red breeding plumage and flies to the Brazilian rain forest area to feed. They don a green plumage while in their tropical wintering areas.

Our local ruby-throated hummingbird generally winters in the Yucatán Peninsula and farther south into Central America. Hummingbirds will arrive here about the last week of April and then around Labor Day they commence their long-distance and dangerous flights.

A turkey vulture leaves our area in early/mid November, flies to southern Pennsylvania, and remains there until some warmer temperatures send them drifting back north to us about mid or late February.

Don’t be surprised to see some vultures when you travel to the Lehigh Valley even in January.

Tree swallows leave our nesting box areas soon after the young fledge, fly to larger lakes and rivers where they feed until mid or late September. They then head south often as close as the Maryland, Virginia or Carolina Coastal areas. We’ll see them again by late March usually.

Our nesting robins arrive here in March, set up territories, nest twice and then eventually leave our backyards by early August. They seem to take up residence in forest areas temporarily and then throughout October migrate as far as Georgia.

My buddy Dave and I regularly see flocks of robins wintering in the Beltzville State Park area where an abundance of food plots planted by the Pennsylvania Game Commission supply their needed calories.

These are probably robins that nested farther north in New England or Southern Canada.

I have only touched on some migration information and in the following article will hopefully supply you with some very interesting facts about bird migration. Regardless, get out there and see these things for yourself.

Test Your Knowledge: The world’s champion bird migrant is the Arctic Tern. It makes a yearly migration round trip of about ____miles.

A. 22,000, B. 10,000, C. 7,000, D. 3,000

Last week’s trivia answer: I don’t know if it happens often, but I did find a dead beaver under a fallen tree. They can make mistakes also.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.