GREAT OUTDOORS: Migrations underway for birds, butterflies, walleye

The fall southerly bird migrations are underway, with peak numbers of one species after another passing through weekly. On their way, they are faced with several challenges getting to their winter homes, with the most being killed by roaming house cats and motor vehicles.Another 1 billion birds are killed after colliding into vertical structures such as buildings, antennas and wind turbines. Some birds might seem fine after a collision, but most die later from injuries. Most occur with homes or other buildings of four stories or fewer.In North America, the vast majority of birds migrate at night. They are thought to be using the stars and moon to navigate, but they can become disoriented while in flight by artificial lights.Some cities participate in "Lights Out" observances to try to reduce mortalities by turning off unnecessary lights during peak migration periods. Some of the most common species that succumb to night-time collisions with glass include warblers, sparrows and hummingbirds.Birds also fly into windows during the day as they are fooled by reflections of the sky or vegetation. I have picked up robins in the spring that smacked into my picture window during daylight hours.Some options that help reduce collisions include using window treatments such as transparent films, decals, netting, paracord curtains, reflective coatings, one-way film, washable paint or choosing windows during construction or renovation of fritted glass, ultraviolet coatings/reflective glass or awnings that reduce reflections.Portions of most long bird migration routes cross large bodies of water, including the Great Lakes. Local anglers are often surprised when wild birds, often warblers, land on their fishing vessels while they are on Lake Erie.I have seen these exhausted birds, desperate for a place to rest, land on trolling rods, windshields and other boat fixtures during both the spring and fall migrations, but mostly this time of the year. If they get enough rest, they fly off and continue to the next stop, but I have seen these small birds struggle to gain altitude, drop into the lake, then promptly get eaten by a hungry gull.With millions of fish available for gulls to eat, it is a shame to see such rare, colorful and melodic birds lose their lives in this manner, but Mother Nature can be cruel.Monarch butterfly migration recently peaked as the final summer generation are on their way to their winter roosts. Populations are still near historic lows, but appeared to be more abundant locally this summer.Annual populations are monitored by estimating how much area they fill in their primary hibernation locale in a few sections of oyamel fir forest remaining in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. Even though Monarch populations doubled from occupying 2.22 acres in 2024 to 4.42 acres in 2025, the goal of protecting them from becoming extinct is to maintain at least 15 acres of overwintering butterflies there annually. Regretfully, that threshold has only been achieved once in the last 21 years with 16.48 acres in 2007 but came close in 2019 with 14.95. Otherwise, it has fallen chronically between 1.66 and 12.5 acres in that period. Better news is that walleyes are returning to this area after seeking refuge in cooler water to the east for the past few months. This annual migration places them closer to their spring spawning locations in the Western Basin rivers and reefs while fattening up on the dense schools of forage fish that normally accumulate in the Sandusky sub-basin from the islands to Lorain each fall.