118 
AUTUMN LAND-BIRD MIGRATION 
ON THE BARRIER ISLANDS OF NORTHEASTERN 
NORTH CAROLINA 
by 
Paul W. Sykes, Jr. 
For three consecutive years Sykes investigated the autumn migration 
of land birds in the Bodie Island and Pea Island area of coastal North 
Carolina. During a 102-day period in 1965, he recorded 110,482 
individual birds of 148 species. He was able to correlate major influxes 
of migratory species with specific weather patterns. His data show 
seasonal peaks of southward movement for the land-bird species that 
pass along the North Carolina coast in large numbers. In addition, 
Sykes recorded five species native to the western United States. Three of 
these vagrants provided the first reports of Swainson’s Hawk, Sage 
Thrasher, and Western Meadowlark for North Carolina. 
1986 49 pages Softbound ISBN 0-917134-12-5 
Price: $5 postpaid. North Carolina residents add 5% sales tax. Please make 
checks payable in U.S. currency to NCDA Museum Extension Fund. 
Send order to: LAND-BIRD MIGRATION, N.C. State Museum of Natural 
Sciences, P.O. Box 27647, Raleigh, NC 2761 1. 
