For this version I’ve changed much of the text and, replaced most of the photos with different photos.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Thanks to HawkWatch International I learned an interesting new word a couple of days ago. I’m always happy to add to my vocabulary when it’s a topic of interest to me – in this case, birds. I’ve known about this phenomenon for years (I actually used to teach it in my zoology classes) but I was unaware there was an actual word assigned to it and I’m guessing that many of my readers may be in the same boat.<\/p>\n The word is “zugunruhe”. On reflection I may not use it\u00a0easily in conversation because its proper German pronunciation would likely tangle my tungle but I’m still happy to know it and it may come in handy on my blog or in conversation with other bird fanatics.<\/p>\n A short definition of zugunruhe\u00a0might be\u00a0“a period of anxiousness exhibited by\u00a0migratory birds, including those in captivity,\u00a0during migration seasons<\/em>“. But I like the following description from William Fiennes better:<\/p>\n The urge to migrate is of course instinctive so birds have no control over it. Zugunruhe has been produced in the lab in captive migratory birds by artificially changing the length of day, which causes the anxiety of the birds to increase and changes their normal sleep pattern (many birds migrate at night).<\/p>\n Most North American bird species are migratory to a greater or lesser degree (interestingly, far fewer South American birds are migratory) so when I see captive birds I often wonder what they might experience during migration seasons.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This photo of a preening Rough-legged Hawk was taken on Antelope Island in November, not long after the hawk migrated to Utah after spending the breeding season up north. Zugunruhe would have been responsible for triggering that arduous trip.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many of the captive birds I experience personally are unreleasable raptors used in education programs, including Galileo the Short-eared Owl I cut out of barbed wire. Before he died, Galileo was an education ambassador for HawkWatch International so this photo was taken when he was captive (obviously).<\/p>\n While Nikki Wayment of HWI was holding him on the glove (in early winter), he kept looking through the trees and up into the sky as if he’d love nothing more than to take wing and go somewhere. I can never see this photo without wondering if Galileo was longing to migrate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Good Friend Tana Hunter spent many years as a volunteer tending to the needs of HWI’s collection of education raptors. When I asked Tana if she ever noticed increased anxiety in their captive raptors during migration seasons, her response was “Yes, especially with Aymara the Swainson’s Hawk. She can be quite the little drama queen during fall migration!” <\/em>Given Tana’s response, it’s interesting to note that Swainson’s Hawks migrate all the way to South America in the fall.<\/p>\n Friend and blog follower Art Lang had this to say in a comment on my original post about zugunruhe.<\/p>\n “I have used the word for many years when I see the behavior in my back yard every autumn. My wife and I pronounce it zoo-gun-ROO. That may be our made up pronunciation and partially inherited from a natural history instructor she once had. Nonetheless I love the word and the behavior I see often with the red winged blackbirds and other commuting songbirds in the first snows of the season in my backyard at 7000\u2019 in the Wasatch. We get quite animated when we observe the behavior and shout it out.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley\\"")
Most examples of birds exhibiting migratory stress or anxiety in captivity I’ve read about in the past have been songbirds, so without giving it much thought I had just assumed (assumptions are inherently perilous) that zugunruhe was primarily a phenomenon of passerines. I was wrong. Raptors experience zugunruhe too, which is at least part of the trigger for them to migrate in the first place.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/galileo-0098-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"galileo-0098-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/swainsons-hawk-4057b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"swainsons-hawk-4057b-ron-dudley\\"")
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