Swallows at the End of the World - Audubon Magazine

[Chris Merkord]

From Audubon Magazine. Photograph by Lucas Brentano.

RESEARCHERS IN SOUTH AMERICA ARE LEARNING MORE ABOUT A MYSTERIOUS CHILEAN BIRD.

Tierra del Fuego, known for bad weather, even in summer, is the final destination for flocks of migrating Chilean swallows that have traveled hundreds of miles there to breed. While adult birds return to their northern wintering grounds, their young often do not survive the summer, posing an evolutionary puzzle.

"Why is this bird coming all this way, when at times there's a 95 percent die-off of their young?" wonders biologist Justin Proctor, who has studied swallows with research group Golondrinas de las Americas.

 

Read the full article from Audubon Magazine