THE Bermuda Audubon Society has been taking part in the International Migratory Bird Day this month. A yearly event, the IMBD actually spans the whole month of October when the fall migration of birds reaches its peak.

Organiser and president of the Audubon Society Andrew Dobson said: "Migratory birds undertake remarkable journeys twice a year. The fact that these birds pass through our country means that they have been part of our environment long before man settled here.

"These birds, like our own residents, are part of our natural heritage and we have a duty to conserve the habitats they need to feed and to rest on migration."

The Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds, of which Mr. Dobson is currently president, has produced a special poster highlighting the theme of this year's IMBD Tundra to Tropics: Connecting Birds, Habitats, and People. These posters and Bird and Habitat Fact Sheets are available for download at www.scscb.org

Last weekend, members of the Bermuda Audubon Society held their annual birding camp on Paget Island to coincide with the IMBD.

Both of the two species featured on the special poster were seen during the weekend – a Blackpoll Warbler, a small songbird migrating from the boreal forests of Canada to its wintering grounds in northern South America, and the Ruddy Turnstone, a long-distance migrant which breeds in the Arctic Tundra and winters as far south as Argentina.

Other IMBD-related events in Bermuda this month have included a field trip to Spittal Pond led by Mr. Dobson as part of the Bermuda Zoological Society's natural history course, and a an Elderhostel bird week at BIOS where lecturers included Mr. Dobson and environmentalist David Wingate.

The IMBD is co-ordinated by Partners in Flight, specifically to highlight the migration of nearly 350 species of migratory birds between nesting habitats in North America and non-breeding grounds in South and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

During October in Bermuda, well over 100 species are recorded, especially a wide variety of shorebirds and warblers, as well vireos, cuckoos, kingbirds, flycatchers, swifts, swallows, thrushes, orioles and tanagers.

More species are present during the fall than any other season in Bermuda. It is a delight and a challenge to observe as many of these incredible creatures as possible during their southward migration.

Unusual sightings this month have included two Magnificent Frigatebirds (from the south), three Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (from the continent), a Northern Wheatear (from Greenland) and a Long-tailed Duck. Formerly know as an "Oldsquaw", this duck breeds commonly in northern Canada. An extreme rarity, not seen in Bermuda since 1990, this bird should be wintering on coastal waters of the eastern seaboard.