University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Zea E-Books Zea E-Books 11-20-2012 Wings over the Great Plains: Bird Migrations in the Central Flyway Paul A. Johnsgard University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/zeabook Recommended Citation Johnsgard, Paul A., "Wings over the Great Plains: Bird Migrations in the Central Flyway" (2012). Zea E- Books. 13. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/zeabook/13 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Zea E-Books at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Zea E-Books by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Wings over the Great Plains: Bird Migrations in the Central Flyway Paul A. Johnsgard Abstract The Central Flyway has been recognized as a collective North- South migratory pathway centered on the North American Great Plains for nearly a century, but it has never been analyzed as the species that most closely follow it, or the major stopping points used by those species on their journeys between their northern breeding and southern wintering grounds. A total of 114 U.S. and 21 Canadian localities of special importance to birds migrat- ing within the Central Flyway are identified and described in de- tail. Judging from available regional, state and local information, nearly 400 species of 50 avian families regularly use the Central Flyway during their migrations. Nearly 90 Central Flyway spe- cies have wintering areas partly extending variably far into the Neotropic zoogeographic realm, and at least 50 of these winter entirely within the Neotropic realm.