Getting lost
Birds do get lost, despite their navigation skills. Youngsters on their first journey south can easily go astray - especially if they meet bad weather. Every year, a sprinkling of rare ‘vagrants’ reaches the UK. These may have been blown too far west from Asia (such as the Pallas’s warbler), or too far east from America (such as the Baltimore oriole). Many are too weak to survive for long, and few find their way home. Some birds have amazing stories to tell – an American wigeon that reached the UK by accident found its way back over the Atlantic to its home in America. Some ‘lost’ individuals even settle in their new home – a black-browed albatross from the Antarctic ocean (nicknamed ‘Albert’!) lived for many years among a colony of gannets off northern Scotland. We don’t know whether he ever got lonely! |
