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Though it's been studied for decades, the astounding precision of bird migration is still fundamentally mysterious and unknown.
National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore documents birds making their annual migrations north -- comets of color that splash across the landscape in Spring.
Left: Sandhill Cranes flying over the Platte River in Nebraska.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Goldfinches, grackles, red-headed woodpeckers (left) -- these visitors to the woodlots, pastures, marshes and suburbs of Nebraska aren't strangers; they're most likely the same old friends from last year, and the year before.
Many have just flown in from South America. How do they do it? We haven't got a clue.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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We understand that long-lived birds, like cranes, learn landmarks along their migratory routes from their parents, and that other species find their way using the angle of the sun, or the stars, or the Earth's magnetic field. But that's about all we understand.
Left: A Whooping Crane (Grus americana) and chick.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Left: A Boblink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) with a geolocator on its back to track its migratory route.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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A male Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris), a species of the Cardinal family.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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The Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis).
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula) near Raymond, Neb.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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The American Robin (Turdus migratorius), a migratory songbird.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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An American Robin's nest, with hatched eggs.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Left: The Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea).
Biologists think warblers may have a celestial chart in their heads to navigate by - or, rather, a double map, because the stars are different in Spring than in Fall.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis).
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Migratory Sandhill Cranes roost at the National Audubon Society's Rowe Bird Sanctuary, at Gibbon, Neb.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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National Audubon Society's Rowe Bird Sanctuary, at Gibbon, Neb., is comprised of nearly 1,900 acres along the Platte River.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Students observe bird life at the Rowe Bird Sanctuary, in Gibbon, Neb.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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The Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus).
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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A Whooping Crane hatches.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Whooping Crane chicks (Grus americana).
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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At the end of the nesting season, at just eight weeks old, the Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) picks up and flies, on its own, to an exact spot in Argentina, thousands of miles away.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Goldfinches.
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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An endangered Least Tern with chick (Sternula antillarum).
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Newly-hatched Least Tern chicks (Sternula antillarum).
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Least Tern with chicks (Sternula antillarum).
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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The Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus).
Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
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Credit: Courtesy of Joel Sartore
