MINNEAPOLIS -- It may be easy to forget this week, but it is spring... at least for birds.
"If you're a bird you're just starting your movement north. We've seen major movement the last few weeks, especially water foul," explains Lee Pfannmuller of Audubon Minnesota.
So winter must be done right?
"There's a lot of triggers. Daylight is certainly one of them, day length," adds Pfannmuller.
Every bird has a different reason depending on how they survive.
"A lot of these birds are eating the early insects that are out," adds Pfannmuller.
Such as this blue bird, but they also didn't go that far away.
"The birds that we're seeing today are closer in terms of the southern United States so they don't have as far to go. A lot of the water foul are feeding on small fish and water plants underneath," adds Pfannmuller.
And for that our waters must be ice-free.
"A lot of the water birds that depend on the open water follow the Mississippi first then fan out as the lakes open up. This is a great egret, it's a little bit smaller than the great blue heron. Nest in tall trees with great blue herons but nest around water sites for fish," adds Pfannmuller.
We still have a lot more birds to arrive yet, so keep a close eye out.
"It's one of wonderful mysteries of natural history, quite frankly. This movement of millions of birds north across the continent responding to all sorts of cues," adds Pfannmuller.
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