Memories about the birds that grace our yards and neighborhoods during spring and summer with their songs, nesting activities, and visits to our water features and feeding stations tend to surface at this time of the year. So where do our favorite backyard birds spend our winter months? Where do orioles, hummingbirds, robins, bluebirds, wrens, swallows, martins, and other birds migrate to for the winter? For any distribution or range map information about any North American species of birds, you can always count on All About Birds — provided online by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology — as a primary information source about birds.
Some birds spend more time in Latin America than in our neighborhoods, and that’s an exciting aspect of these birds’ natural histories, and it emphasizes the need for international conservation efforts from north to south. You can reference your favorite birds anytime at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ and for some species that winter in South America, you may wish to visit Cornell’s website Neotropical Birds at https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species or https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species#MenuSiteNav.
Even so, we’d like to share some winter range information about popular backyard birds as a quick reference for you here, including a link to the range maps for each species listed:
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds — Southern Mexico to Costa Rica in Central America; see https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruby-throated_Hummingbird/maps-range
Baltimore Orioles — Central Mexico through Central America and northwest Columbia, northwest Venezuela, plus Florida and the Caribbean islands; see https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Baltimore_Oriole/maps-range and https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/balori/overview
Bullock’s Orioles — Central and southern Mexico to central Guatemala; see https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bullocks_Oriole/overview
American Robins — Some southern locations in Canada through most of the continental United States, including Florida, southern California and Arizona, and the northern half of Mexico; see https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/maps-range
Western Bluebirds — Northern populations winter from California and the Great Basin through northern and central Mexico; see https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Bluebird/maps-range
Eastern Bluebirds — Similar to their nesting range, although bluebirds nesting north of the Great Lakes winter farther south and some birds winter farther west than nesting populations; see https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/maps-range
Mountain Bluebirds — From Oregon to western Kansas south to central Mexico; see https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/maps-range
House Wrens — Southern United States to southern Mexico; see https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Wren/maps-range
Barn Swallows — Central Mexico through Central America and throughout most of South America; see https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/barswa/overview
Purple Martins — Across northern and central South America; see https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/purmar/overview
Of course, there are plenty of other “favorite summer birds,” and you now know where to answer all your questions about the birds you see, including in your yard and everywhere you travel. We’re sure you’re looking forward to seeing your favorite neotropical migrants returning this spring!
Share your backyard birding experiences and photos at editorstbw2@gmail.com.
