CONTENTS Photo: Uncredited Mountains Norway
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Home
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Change 17.
Relocation
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Finding your place
A familiar culture will forever be engrained in our memory.
HOME for now
The ever changing picture of bird populations throughout the year intrigues those who are observant and who wish to know the source and destination of these birds. While many species of fish, mammals, and even insects undertake amazing migratory journeys, birds as a group are the most mobile creatures on Earth. Even humans with their many vehicles of locomotion do not equal some birds in mobility. No human population moves each year as far as from the Arctic to the Antarctic with subsequent return, yet the Arctic Terns do.
a reprieve from winter food shortages. The European fur traders in Alaska and Canada offered rewards to the Native American who saw the first flight of geese in the spring, and all joined in jubilant welcome to the newcomers.
Birds are adapted in their body structure and physiology to life in the air. Their feathered wings and tails, bones, lungs and air sacs, and their metabolic abilities all contribute to this amazing faculty. These adaptations make it possible for birds to seek out environments most favorable to their needs at different times of the year. This results in the marvelous phenomenon we know as migration—the regular, recurrent, seasonal movement of populations from one geographic location to another and back again.
Most of the nongame species were also found to be valuable as allies of the farmer in his neverending confrontation against insect pests and weed seeds. And in more recent years, all species have been of ever-increasing recreational and aesthetic value for untold numbers of people who enjoy watching birds.
Throughout human-experience, migratory birds have been important as a source of food after a lean winter and as the harbinger of a change in seasons. The arrival of certain species has been heralded with appropriate ceremonies in many lands. Among the eskimos and other tribes this phenomenon is the accepted sign of the imminence of spring, of warmer weather, and
As North American became more thickly settled, large flocks of ducks and geese, as well as migratory rails, doves, and woodcock often hunted for food - became objects of the enthusiastic attention of an increasing army of sportsmen.
We soon realized that our migratory bird resource was an international legacy that could not be managed alone by one state or country and that all nations were responsible for its well being. The need for laws protecting game and nongame birds, as well as the necessity to regulate the hunting of diminishing game species, followed as a natural consequence. In the management of this wildlife resource, it has become obvious that studies must be made of the species’ habits, environmental needs, and travels. In the United States, the Department
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iis devoted to programs that will ensure sustainability for these populations as they are faced with the impacts of alteration in land use, loss of habitat, and contaminants from our technological society. Hence bird investigations are made by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the arm of the Department of Interior charged by Congress under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act with the duty of protecting those avian species that in their yearly journeys pass back and forth between United States and other countries. In addition, the federal government through the activities of the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey also promotes basic research on migration. Federal agencies cooperate with their counterparts in other countries as well as with state agencies, academic institutions, and non-governmental groups to gain understanding and for the protection of migratory species through such endeavors as Partners in Flight, a broadly-based international cooperative effort in the Western Hemisphere. For almost a century the Fish and Wildlife Service and its predecessor, the Biological Survey, have been collecting data on the important details of bird migration. Scientists have gathered information concerningthe distribution and seasonal movementsof many species throughout the Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic archipelago south to Tierra del Fuego. Supplementing these investigations is the work of hundreds of U.S., Latin America,
We’ve always been a static, industrybased town , now faced with drastic alterations from Society.. - Recession. Redundancy. Relocation...
and Canadian university personnel and volunteer birdwatchers, who report on the status of birds as observed in their respective localities. These data, stored in field notes, computer files, and scientific journals, constitute an enormous reservoir of information pertaining to the distribution and movements of North American birds. The purpose of this publication to summarize these data and additional information from other parts of the world to present the more important facts about our current understanding of the fascinating subject of bird migration. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is grateful to the many people who have contributed their knowledge so that others, whether in biology or ornithology classes, members of conservation organizations, or just individuals interested in the welfare of the birds, may understand and enjoy this precious resource as well as preserve it for generations to come.
Photo: Davis, V. L Rooftops, Leicester Home
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Photo: Davis, V. L Outwoods in Bluebell Season, Leicester Home
We have so many traditions. at home. Every year, at the beginning of May, we go for a walk in the bluebell woods. An afternoon dedicated to spending time together as a family. It marks the start of our summer.
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CHANGE prompting migatory departure
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The rigors of the annual migratory journey are balanced by benefits derived from species being able to inhabit two different areas during seasons when each region provides favorable conditions. Upland Sandpipers breeding in the grasslands of North America and wintering on the pampas of Argentina never experience winter. If it were not advantageous to make the trip twice a year, the behavior would not have evolved or if once typical under one set of conditions, natural selection would have eliminated the tendency once the environment changed. An example of the latter case is the European Starling which is migratory on the continent, but the population isolated in the British Isles by the rise in sea level after the end of Pleistocene glaciation and now living in a moderate maritime climate has secondarily evolved nonmigratory behavior. By departing in the spring from their wintering ranges to breeding areas, migrant species are probably assured of reduced interspecific competition for adequate space and resources such as ample food for themselves and their offspring. Permanent residents in temperate zones, whose wintering and breeding areas are in the same region, also gain a net benefit by being nonmigratory. Although not suffering the metabolic demands and hazards of migration, the energetic demands for survival and reproduction in an environment with a greater
Even for permanent residents in the tropics where climatic variation is relatively low, these benefits are offset by lower reproductive success resulting from higher nest predation. While the various kinds of wood warblers and flycatchers are wholly migratory, other species like most woodpeckers are permanent residents. Some populations of species have individuals that are migratory while other individuals breeding in the same area are not. These partial migrant species, like Blue Jays, exemplify the difficulty in suggesting simple, singular explanations for the origin of migration. Birds require specific environmental resources for reproduction. Among both migratory and nonmigratory species alike, adequate food for the young appears to be primary in determining where, as well as when, a species will breed. American Goldfinches and Pine Siskins are closely related and winter together in gregarious flocks. With the emergence of abundant insect food in the spring, siskins disperse and begin nesting while goldfinches postpone their reproduction until late summer when thistle seeds become available for feeding young. For other species, like waterfowl, the availability of suitable nest sites rather than food for the young appears to determine the timing of breeding.The evolution of migration also involves adaptations that affect the timing of this behavior so that the species is in the breeding
or wintering habitat under the most propitious conditions. For most migrants, especially longdistance migrants, the evolution of migratory behavior demands a physiological response to environmental cues in preparation for migration that are different from the environmental factors that ultimately determine their reproductive success on the breeding range or survival on the wintering range. Thus, in the fall swallows and other insectivorous species depart southward long before food resources or weather become critical for their survival. Factors other than a decrease in food availability or cold stress, for example, must prompt their migratory departure. The verdant flush of regrowth in the spring is clearly associated with migratory movements of many species to higher latitudes where longer daylengths provide ample time for feeding young, permitting their rapid growth and shorter exposure in the nest to predation. But the higher the latitude the shorter the breeding season, so that while summer days may be long, the summer season is short and migrants in more northerly climes may have only one chance to breed before they must again travel southward. At lower latitudes, breeding seasons are longer, allowing multiple attempts to produce young. This longer breeding season, however, is related to a higher probability that nests will suffer losses to predators. Fall departure from higher latitudes removes individuals from climatic conditions that
pg. 7 Photo: Davis, F. A Lanterns, Leicester Home Photo: Davis, F. A Lanterns, Leicester Home
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Photo: Davis, F. A Celebration, Leicester Home pg. 10 Photo: Davis, F. A Loose Ends, Leicester Home
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will - eventually - exceed their physiological tolerance limits. The general model for the evolution of migratory behavior considers a permanent resident that expands its range due to intraspecific competition into an area that is seasonally variable, providing greater resources for reproduction but harsher climactic stress and reduced food in the non-breeding season. Individuals breeding in these new regions at the fringe of the species’ distribution are more productive, but in order to increase nonbreeding survival they return to the ancestral range. This results, however, in even greater intraspecific competition because of their higher productivity, so that survival is enhanced for individuals that winter in areas not inhabited by the resident population. The Common Yellowthroat of the Atlantic coast is a good example. Birds occupying the most southern part of the species’ range in Florida are largely nonmigratory, whereas populations
breed as far north as Newfoundland migrate to the West Indies in the winter, well removed from the resident population in Florida. Because a migrant population gains an advantage on both its breeding and wintering range, it becomes more abundant, while the resident, non-migratory population becomes proportionately smaller and smaller in numbers. If changing environmental conditions become increasingly disadvantageous for the resident population or interspecific competition becomes more severe, the resident population could eventually just disappear, leaving the migrant population as characteristic of the species These stages in the evolution of migration are represented today by permanent resident populations, partial migrants, and fully migratory species of birds. As for all adaptations, natural selection continues
to mold and modify the migratory behavior of birds as environmental conditions perpetually change and species expand or retract their geographic ranges. Hence, the migratory patterns that we observe today will almost certainly not be the migratory patterns of the future.
Tying up loose ends....
Photo: Davis, V. L Family Walk, Leicester Home
Loosing sight of the ordinary.....
SHIFT in time, language, sense of self
How long will it take to accept our new cultural identity? Adapt to a new way of life? Or will it just happen naturally? One morning we’ll just wake up and feel a wee bit more
Swedish just like that.
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F LY T TA relocate
The hope of falling in love with a Freddie Ljungberg or an Ulrika Jonsson is one of the main reasons Britons choose to move to Sweden
the unexpected discovery that it is not that expensive compared with Britain. Take housing. On the down side, expats contend with the highest tax burden in Europe (51% on average). And if they don’t have a job before they emigrate,
At least that’s the view of James Savage, editor of The
finding one will be difficult as employers prefer to hire Swedes
Local, a popular English-language Swedish news website.
with good English, rather than Brits with OK Swedish. “We
“Otherwise,” he says, “it’s people who have come to work for
bought our farm with an acre of land for £42,000,” says
large industries such as Ericsson, Volvo or AstraZeneca.” Most
Pauline Shieldhouse, 59, who lives with her husband, Brian,
live in and around the capital, Stockholm, with some setting
75, outside a village three hours from Stockholm. “We sold
up home in the other big cities, Gothenburg and Malmö. Two-
our house in County Durham for £175,000.” For Shieldhouse,
thirds of British immigrants are men. Most are in their 40s,
Sweden resembles “Britain, the way it was 40 years ago.
50s and early 60s.
People leave their doors unlocked. If someone forgets a wallet or a phone in a public place, no one will take it. They will
Janelle Larsson, 29, met her Swedish husband, Arvid, in 2001,
leave it there so the owner can come back for it.”
when they both worked in London. They frequently visited Sweden and decided to move there - they have been living in
Most importantly, expats need to develop a passion for the
Gothenburg since April. Larsson sums up the benefits
Eurovision song contest. “They are strangely obsessed with it here,” says Larsson. “From April to June, all you hear on
“People are more leftie, they have a huge respect for the
the radio is songs from the regional heats and from past
environment. Recycling bins are everywhere. No one tramples
Eurovisions. It’s taken deadly seriously: Be prepared.
on the public flowerbeds, like they do in London.” In general, it is Sweden’s high quality of life, that expats praise - its eco-friendliness, its lack of traffic and crowds, and the
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Pg. 13 Photo: Davis, VL. Swedish Summer houses Hovas, Sweden Photo: Davis, V.L. Lakeside Gothenburg Sweden
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Photo: Odda Landscape; Noway
Coming from the UK to Sweden, there is an expectation that things will be different, but not too different. And at first glance, that is absolutely true. A two week vacation to Stockholm, and you wouldn’t notice the differences. it’s the little things that you notice when you’ve been here for a while. Like grunts being an acceptable form of response. The sharp intake of breath meaning yes. Obviously. To the untrained English speaking ear, it might sound like an utterance of surprise. It’s not. It is an utterance of affirmation Like waiting in line. Swedes don’t really wait in line. Not in the way we know a line to be at least. Instead, the Swedes have what is called a kölapp. A tiny little piece of paper with a number on it. When it’s your turn, a light will flash and your number will pop up. It’s amazing when it works. What is less amazing is when you don’t know about the system Like worshipping the sun. You’ll start to do it. You’ll start fantasizing about sunny beaches despite your pale, easily reddened skin. You’ll throw your face to the sun during those waning moments of daylight in the middle of December. And not a single person will think less of you
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Photo: Uncredited Baking Fika Sweden
“Like fika. The act of stopping everything you are doing to drink coffee and eat delicious baked goods. It’s amazing. It’s delicious. It’s frustrating. Embrace it.”
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FIKA coffee
Will we still be able to socialise and drink tea?America has Coffee houses, Paris and Italy have Cafe’s. At home we just sit at the kitchen table; teapot full; for hours on end.....But in Sweden they have fika........
Ska Vi Fika Nu?
Oooh. Ermm. Yes please?
So, how do you define culture? Culture is the accumulation of the values, beliefs, and attitudes of a group of people. It can often cause confusion or discomfort when traveling or living abroad. But one of the tasty rewards of learning a second language is that you acquire words for customs and institutions of your host country. For example, when I learned Swedish, I got to participate in the daily ritual of fika. However, “fika” doesn’t translate well into American English. You might translate it loosely as coffee break, because most Swedes drink coffee. Or you might say it is the equivalent of British tea time. Even that doesn’t capture the full meaning. Let me explain. Swedes have a daily ritual of meeting together for coffee (or a soft drink for children) and a cookie or a smörgås (openfaced sandwich). Everyone takes this informal break each day: families at home, employees at work, friends at school. Other activities stop as people gather together for fika. It’s real social networking, invented a long time before the internet, and its a vehicle to establish a rapport with co-workers,
and friends to build ties. Only by living and by learning Swedish can you fully appreciate the civilizing benefits of this cultural ritual.. Because of the warm friendships that I soon developed during daily fika breaks, I learned the meaning of lifetime friendships, of what it means to be Swedish and to build deeper relationships. There is a very healthy benefit to slowing down for a little while each day; which is something that I’d never appreciated while living in the US. Rituals like fika define culture. This warming tradition offers insight into what it means to be Swedish, and it’s the perfect venue for learning both language and culture. Early on I wrote up and memorized a short dialogue, practiced it faithfully, and as both my language ability and my cultural understanding grew, built on it, expanded it, and turned it into a remarkably useful conversational tool. Sometimes, the best way to learn is to take a break. It sure was the way in Sweden.
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Photo: Davis, V. L Gothenburg Market.; Sweden
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Photo: Davis, A. M Swedish Beach Huts; Sweden
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Photo: Davis, A. M Finding your place.; Sweden
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Photo: Davis, VL.. Swedish Summer houses Hovas, Sweden
Beginning to find your place again.... Linguistically Emotionally Visually Culturally .
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