Question: WHY DO BIRDS FLY WEST IN WINTER?

Jessica Mitchell answered on 11 Nov 2019:

Birds which move around over the year are called migratory birds. Most will fly south for the winter to escape the cold and lack of food up here in the northern parts of the world. From the UK most migratory birds will fly down to Africa where it is much warmer and there are good habitats for feeding and sometimes breeding depending on the species. Some brids do fly south-east or south-west, like the blackcap which comes up to the UK from South-East europe. Again birds move so that they can find better habitats, better food and better weather – pretty much what we consider when we decide where to go on holiday!

We dont quite know how birds find their way, some have to learn from older relatives but for others it seems to come naturally. One way they may do this is by using a special organ in their brain which can detect the earth’s magnetic field and acts a bit like an internal sat nav. Other species may remember land marks to help them on their way.