How High Do Birds Fly?
Most birds fly below 500 feet except during migration. There is no reason to expend the energy to go higher — and there may be dangers, such as exposure to higher winds or to the sharp vision of hawks. When migrating, however, birds often do climb to relatively great heights, possibly to avoid dehydration in the warmer air near the ground. Migrating birds in the Caribbean are mostly observed around 10,000 feet, although some are found half and some twice that high. Generally long-distance migrants seem to start out at about 5,000 feet and then progressively climb to around 20,000 feet. Just like jet aircraft, the optimum cruise altitude of migrants increases as their “fuel” is used up and their weight declines. Vultures sometimes rise over 10,000 feet in order to scan larger areas for food (and to watch the behavior of distant vultures for clues to the location of a feast). Perhaps the most impressive altitude record is that of a flock of Whooper Swans which was seen on radar arriving
Most birds don’t fly very high — usually under 3,000 feet — as they go about their business of looking for food and building nests. But some birds fly very high while they’re traveling to or from their winter homes. Geese are the highest-flying birds of all. Those in the Himalaya Mountains in Asia fly at heights of over 29,000 f
I had very little to say, except that different species fly at different altitudes (heights), for example, eagles fly higher than song birds, but I really didn’t have a specific height to tell him. A week or so later we visited the Montclair Hawk Watch and he asked the local birders the same question and got a better response. One participant explained that the condors of South America flew high into the mountains of the Andes, which is pretty high, but gave no specific tangible height. Still not satisfied, I decided to search for the highest flyers and other interesting bird facts so here it goes… [By the way, the day we visited the Hawk Watch we saw over 75 hawks and a couple of eagles — it was quite the experience.] HOW HIGH DO BIRDS FLY? Much higher than I thought. Most of the year birds fly around 500 feet or less which is where most of their food and shelter can be found. However during migration time many birds fly as high as 2,000-5,000 feet. That’s between 7 and 17 football f
