When urinary tract infections keep coming back

If you are prone to recurrent UTIs, you can head them off before they take hold.

Unless you’re in the fortunate minority of women who have never had a urinary tract infection (UTI), you know the symptoms well. You might feel a frequent urgency to urinate yet pass little urine when you go. Your urine might be cloudy, blood-tinged, and strong-smelling. For 25% to 30% of women who’ve had a  urinary tract infection, the infection returns within six months.

If you have repeated UTIs, you’ve experienced the toll they take on your life. However, you may take some comfort in knowing that they aren’t likely to be the result of anything you’ve done. “Recurrent UTIs aren’t due to poor hygiene or something else that women have brought on themselves. Some women are just prone to UTIs,” says infectious diseases specialist Dr. Kalpana Gupta, a lecturer in medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Why some women get recurrent UTIs

The infections are usually caused by Escherichia coli, a bacterium that lives in the intestinal system. If E. coli are carried from the rectum to the vagina, they can enter the urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder) and infect the bladder.

Risk factors for UTI vary with age. Before menopause, the most common risk factors are sexual intercourse and use of spermicides. It’s thought that sex increases the number of bacteria in the bladder, and many experts advise women to urinate after sex to flush them out. Spermicides may kill off Lactobacilli, beneficial bacteria in the vagina, making it easier for E. coli to move in.

After menopause, certain physical changes help set the stage for UTIs. The numbers of Lactobacilli in the vagina naturally decline. The bladder also contracts less strongly than it once did, making it more difficult to empty it completely.

In both premenopausal and postmenopausal women, genes play a role as well. Having a mother or sister who has frequent UTIs is also a risk factor.

Preventing UTIs

These approaches have some evidence to support them:

• Drink plenty of fluids every day. Aim for about 2 to 3 liters.
• Use alternative contraception that does not include a spermicide.
• Empty your bladder immediately following sexual intercourse.
• Consider vaginal estrogen therapy for post-menopausal women.
• Wipe front to back, although this has not been scientifically proven to make a difference.

Antibiotics

Taking a low dose of one of the antibiotics used to treat UTI is the most common way of dealing with recurrences. However, bacteria may become resistant to an antibiotic overtime and it may not be effective in treating subsequent infections. “This is an area in which women can experiment and find which solution works for them,” Dr. Gupta says. There are several options if you have a prescription on hand:

• taking a low dose daily for six months or longer
• using only after you have sex
• waiting until you have UTI symptoms.

If you have recurrent UTIs, talk to your clinician. The two of you can come up with a plan that is likely to be effective for you.

Image: designer491/Getty Images

Recurring UTIs: Frequent and Chronic

Sometimes urinary tract infections recur, or happen again. Find out why this happens and how recurrent infections are treated.

By Lindsey KonkelMedically Reviewed by Bhargavi Patham, MD, PhD

Reviewed: March 24, 2020

Medically Reviewed

Do UTIs keep coming back?iStock

A urinary tract infection, or UTI, occurs when harmful bacteria enter the urinary tract and cause inflammation. The urinary tract consists of your kidneys, the tubes that go from the kidneys to your bladder, and the tube that carries urine to the outside when you urinate, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (1) Urine inside the urinary tract is normally sterile, but if any bacteria get in, it can cause an infection.

Urinary tract infections are the second most common type of infection that people get, notes the National Library of Medicine. (2) They account for nearly 10 million doctor visits every year in the United States, per the National Kidney Foundation. (3) When a UTI occurs more than twice in six months, or three or more times in one year, it is considered to be a recurrent urinary infection, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). (4) About 1 in 5 women will get a recurrent UTI, and women who have more than three UTIs are more likely to continue having them. (3) Men can also have recurrent UTIs, but this is not as common in men as in women. In many cases men with recurrent UTIs have some type of urinary obstruction.

RELATED: 8 Home Remedies for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Symptoms

What Causes Recurrent UTIs?

Bacteria can enter the urinary tract from the outside to cause a UTI to come back, or a recurrent infection can be caused by bacteria that remain in the urinary tract after a previous infection. Symptoms of recurrent UTI in men and women include the frequent urge to urinate, burning pain or pressure, cloudy or discolored urine, bloody urine, and chills and fever. (1) Children with UTIs are more likely to have fever without the other symptoms. (1) Common conditions that can lead to recurrent UTIs include: (4,5)

• Being in a nursing home or hospital
• Diabetes
• Kidney or bladder stones
• Having a catheter
• Previous urinary tract surgery
• Sexual activity
• Certain types of birth control, including use of diaphragm or spermicide
• Menopause
• Having an infected or enlarged prostate
• Being born with an abnormality of the urinary tract

Why Does My UTI Keep Coming Back?

Chronic or recurring UTIs may keep coming back due to one of the risk factors listed above. Use of spermicides for birth control, for instance, may kill off beneficial bacteria in and around the vagina, making it easier for harmful bacteria to enter the urinary tract. (4)

In some cases, what seem like recurrent UTIs may actually be another condition, such as kidney stones or interstitial cystitis, a painful bladder condition with no infection. If you think you’re getting recurrent UTIs, see your provider, who can help rule out another condition, notes ACOG. (6)

How Many Is Too Many UTIs?

Three or more UTIs in one year indicates a recurrent infection, according to the ACOG. (4)

Recurrent urinary tract infections are treated with antibiotics. A week or two after you finish the antibiotic treatment, your doctor may perform a urine test to make sure the infection is cured. (4)

Your doctor may also ask you about factors that increase the risk of a recurrent UTI, including: (4)

• Frequent sex
• A new sexual partner
• Diaphragm or spermicide use
• Young age at first UTI

How Are Chronic UTIs Treated?

If you have recurrent or chronic UTIs, your doctor may send you to a urologist who specializes in diseases of the urinary system. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, some of the ways that recurrent UTIs are evaluated and treated include: (7,8)

• Testing The doctor will want to take a urine sample to test for bacteria and white blood cells. It may be necessary to do special X-ray studies to see if there is an obstruction or stones in the urinary tract. A urologist may look into your bladder by passing a special scope through the opening into your bladder. This exam is called cystoscopy.
• Antibiotics for Treatment Normally, UTIs responds very well to antibiotics, and you may only need to take medication for a few days. For recurrent UTIs, antibiotics may be needed for 10 days or more.
• Surgery In some cases of prostate disease, stones, or other obstruction of the urinary system, surgery may be done to restore normal flow of urine and help clear up infections.
• Antibiotics for Prevention Some strategies to prevent recurrent UTIs with antibiotics include taking low-dose antibiotics for six months or taking antibiotics after sexual intercourse.
• Frequent Urine Testing Women who have recurrent UTIs may benefit from testing their urine frequently with a dipstick that warns of any bacteria in the urine.

While urinary tract infections, especially recurrent UTIs, can be a serious health problem that warrants a trip to your healthcare provider, recurrent UTIs are common and there are many effective treatments available. Some simple things you can do to help prevent UTIs include drinking lots of fluids, keeping the genital area clean, wearing cotton underwear, and wiping from front to back after a bowel movement or urination. (8)

Can Recurrent UTIs Be a Sign of Cancer?

Both UTIs and bladder cancer can cause similar symptoms, such as a frequent need to urinate and even blood in the urine, according to the University of Rochester Medical Center. (9)

According to the American Cancer Society, urinary tract infections, kidney and bladder stones, and other causes of chronic bladder irritation have been linked to bladder cancer.  (10) However, it’s not clear whether recurrent urinary or bladder infections can actually cause bladder cancer or whether they constitute a true risk factor for bladder cancer.

The biggest known risk factor for bladder cancer is smoking. (9) The risk of bladder cancer also increases with age. Most people who get bladder cancer are over the age of 55. (10)

If you think you may have chronic or recurrent UTIs, it’s best to get checked out by your doctor. Your provider can rule out other health issues, including bladder cancer, and get you the treatment you need to get rid of chronic UTIs.

Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking

1. Urinary Tract Infection. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. August 2019.
2. Urinary Tract Infections. National Library of Medicine. April 2019.
3. Urinary Tract Infections. National Kidney Foundation.
4. Urinary Tract Infections. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. February 2019.
5. Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). Mayo Clinic. January 2019.
6. Recurrent Urinary Tract Infection Prevention. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
7. How Do Health Care Professionals Diagnose a Bladder Infection? National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. March 2017.
8. How Do Health Care Professionals Treat a Bladder Infection? National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. March 2017.
9. Could Persistent UTI-like Symptoms Be Bladder Cancer? University of Rochester Medical Center. June 2015.
10. Bladder Cancer Risk Factors. American Cancer Society. January 2019.

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Why do migratory birds return in spring?

This question can be correctly answered from at least three different positions. These answers will complement each other and are therefore equally important. First, what is the mechanism of this phenomenon? Secondly, why do birds do this – what is the meaning (function) of this behavior? And, finally, how did it happen that birds fly away somewhere and then return (that is, what is the origin and evolution of this phenomenon)? We briefly review these three aspects below.

How?

If migratory birds are kept in captivity, then during the period of normal seasonal migrations they experience anxiety. This state was called migratory. At this time, for example, you can observe atypical activity at night. And this is due to the fact that small birds fly mainly at night. That is, they seem to be trying to realize their desire to migrate even if they (in captivity) are not allowed to do this.

Moreover, birds try to orient themselves in the direction they should normally fly. This feature is widely used in the study of the orientation of birds using the so-called round cages , or Kramer cages , named after the German ornithologist Gustav Kramer. In such cages (round in shape) there are perches around the perimeter, and one perch is in the center of the cage. When jumping, it is more convenient for a bird to jump from the central perch to one of the peripheral ones. According to where the most frequently visited peripheral perch is oriented (to the cardinal points), it is determined in which direction the bird “wants” to migrate.

So, the desire to migrate south (in autumn) or to return home (in spring) manifests itself in birds even when they are not allowed to do so. That is, the migration state is, in fact, an instinctive phenomenon. It is triggered in our birds mainly by the ratio between the dark and light hours of the day (the so-called photoperiod). A certain value of this parameter is a kind of trigger for migrations. This has also been shown experimentally.

Why?

Now let’s see why the birds need to come home. What is the meaning (function) of this? How does this help them survive? After all, in order for the instinct, which was discussed in the previous subsection, to form, it must have some value – otherwise it simply would not have arisen.

Several periods can be distinguished in the life of birds. They repeat every year, so they usually talk about an annual cycle. In a typical case, the annual cycle looks like this: nesting, molting, autumn migration, wintering, spring migration, nesting again, and then “on the list”. All these periods are important, but nesting is of particular importance. At this time, birds breed, they require a lot of additional costs – both time and energy. Therefore, only those individuals that do so in favorable places for them, to which they are best adapted, reproduce successfully.

Why don’t our birds usually nest, for example, in the tropics? There are two main reasons here. First, they are not well adapted to local conditions. That is, they can live there, get their own food, even sing, but they are not enough for more. It is difficult to find a suitable place for a nest, it is difficult to feed the chicks, etc. And secondly, in the tropics there are a lot of local sedentary species that “outplay” migrants in the competitive struggle – both in direct (for example, for nesting shelters) and in indirect (for food).

But it also happens that our northern birds and somewhere far to the south find suitable conditions for themselves and stay there to nest. In some cases, this may even lead to the emergence of new forms over time. A good example is the mallard duck ( Anas platyrchynchus , fig. 1), common in central Russia, including Moscow. And besides this, it breeds throughout North America and Eurasia, from the tundra to the subtropics. So this view is very plastic. Therefore, perhaps it is not surprising that some populations, having got to tropical islands during migrations, remained there to live and became sedentary.

Now such forms are even considered separate (but close) species. They are Hawaiian Mallard Anas ( platyrhynchus ) wyvilliana and Laysan Teal Anas ( platyrhynchus ) laysanensis , both species – from the Hawaiian Islands (Fig. 2).

There are even more interesting exceptions. One of them is the black silky waxwing ( Phainopepla nitens , fig. 3), which lives in North America. This bird manages to nest twice a year. In the spring, she breeds chicks in California. And by autumn it migrates to the state of Colorado. Here she nests again. Such nesting in two different places is a unique case in birds. So, as is generally the case in zoology, there are only general tendencies or rules with many different exceptions.

Finally, it is necessary to briefly tell why birds generally fly away to warm lands in winter. The main reason is the lack of food. Therefore, in the first place, those species of birds that feed on openly living insects fly away. In winter, such food, of course, is not found. So they migrate, one might say, forcedly. The same species that can find food for themselves in winter also remain in our area. These are, for example, tits, deftly looking for sleeping insects in various crevices and diversifying their diet with seeds. Or a great spotted woodpecker ( Dendrocopos major ), feeding on spruce and pine seeds in winter.

Why?

But why do birds that nest in the northern latitudes and winter in the tropics do this and not otherwise. Why don’t they, for example, nest in the tropics in the winter, and go to the north to rest in the summer? To answer this, we must also consider the evolutionary aspect. Namely, the history of the distribution of species.

The fact is that many of our bird species are of southern origin. All of them are from Africa or South Asia. In the course of their evolutionary history, they gradually dispersed from these areas. New populations and species were formed, adapting to new, more northern conditions. Faced in the new conditions with an unfavorable situation in winter, these birds were forced to migrate south. And this path ran to the areas where these species originally originated. A kind of historical memory. Therefore, there is a well-known analogy that the path of migration in general terms repeats the path of the dispersal of a species. Of course, it is not necessary to accurately connect the wintering area and the area where the resettlement began. There is a correspondence here, but it is approximate. So, if a species winters in tropical Asia, we can talk about its Asian origin, but not necessarily tropical.

Wintering areas may remain conservative, even if this is not very convenient. Such, for example, is the situation with the Dubrovnik bunting ( Emberiza aureola ), an Asian species that has recently settled in Europe, up to the Baltic states. Of course, it would be shorter for European birds to fly to Africa for wintering, nevertheless, they “in the old fashioned way” fly to Southeast Asia – like birds from Siberia and the Far East (Fig. 4).

Dubrovnik has only recently started breeding in Europe. But most of the other species, older natives of Asia, have changed their wintering grounds over time. European populations began to spend the winter in Africa – which, obviously, is both closer and more convenient.

So the history of a species is also important for understanding how it behaves now. But none of the three aspects (mechanism, function, evolution), taken separately, can answer the question. And only together they paint a complete picture of why and why the birds return back in the spring.

Answered: Alexey Opaev

Why birds return from warm lands. Where do birds fly, why do they return? From the gate – turn

Why do migratory birds return in spring? May 10th, 2018

This question can be correctly answered from at least three different perspectives. These answers will complement each other and are therefore equally important. First, what is the mechanism of this phenomenon? Secondly, why do birds do this – what is the meaning (function) of this behavior? And, finally, how did it happen that birds fly away somewhere and then return (that is, what is the origin and evolution of this phenomenon)?

These three aspects will be briefly discussed below.

How?

If migratory birds are kept in captivity, then during the period of normal seasonal migrations they experience anxiety. This state was called migratory. At this time, for example, you can observe atypical activity at night. And this is due to the fact that small birds fly mainly at night. That is, they seem to be trying to realize their desire to migrate even if they (in captivity) are not allowed to do this.

Moreover, birds try to orient themselves in the direction they should normally fly. This feature is widely used in the study of the orientation of birds using the so-called round cages, or Cramer cages, named after the German ornithologist Gustav Kramer (Gustav Kramer). In such cages (round in shape) there are perches around the perimeter, and one perch is in the center of the cage. When jumping, it is more convenient for a bird to jump from the central perch to one of the peripheral ones. According to where the most frequently visited peripheral perch is oriented (to the cardinal points), it is determined in which direction the bird “wants” to migrate.

So, the desire to migrate south (in autumn) or to return home (in spring) manifests itself in birds even when they are not allowed to do so. That is, the migratory state, in fact, is an instinctive phenomenon. It is triggered in our birds mainly by the ratio between the dark and light hours of the day (the so-called photoperiod). A certain value of this parameter is a kind of trigger for migrations.
This has been shown, among other things, experimentally.

How birds find their way

Birds can use several sources of information when choosing direction.

Important for migrating birds is the solar disk, by which they determine the direction. The sun constantly changes its position in the sky during the day, so you can use it for orientation only taking into account temporary compensation. In other words, birds must have their own “internal clock”. And, indeed, birds have this ability. Interestingly, birds can navigate by sunlight without even seeing the sun itself (for example, in cloudy weather). To do this, they use polarized light, which occurs when light is scattered and reflected and is always present in the atmosphere.

Another important source of information is the starry sky. In this case, the birds are guided by certain stars and their constellations.

Sun and star orientation is not innate. Although the chick has the prerequisites for the formation of such skills, of course, from birth. But in order for the skill to develop fully, the bird must learn. How exactly she does this is still unclear. But the participation of other birds is not required here. And this means that birds must have another navigation system, completely innate. Focusing on it, they could calibrate (“tune”) other orientation systems. This innate system, which is also the most ancient, is magnetoreception. Using the Earth’s magnetic field, birds can choose the directions “toward the pole” and “toward the equator” (meaning the magnetic pole and the equator). At the same time, orientation by the magnetic field is rougher than by the sun and stars. For example, in this way it is impossible to distinguish the direction “south” from the direction “north”. Apparently, that is why the birds also learned to use celestial landmarks (the sun, stars), which allows them to navigate more accurately.

Finally, it should be said about the “ordinary”, ground landmarks. Of course, birds also use them, but the role of this is not completely clear. There is no doubt that birds can use terrestrial landmarks when they enter the area they are familiar with. In addition, landmarks may play a role in choosing a particular migration route. For example, it has long been known that many near-water birds (ducks, geese) during their flights adhere to sea coasts or channels of large rivers.

Why?

Now let’s see why the birds need to come home. What is the meaning (function) of this? How does this help them survive? After all, in order for the instinct to be formed, which was discussed in the previous subsection, it must have some value – otherwise it simply would not have arisen.

Several periods can be distinguished in the life of birds. They repeat every year, so they usually talk about the annual cycle. In a typical case, the annual cycle looks like this: nesting, molting, autumn migration, wintering, spring migration, nesting again, and further “on the list”. All these periods are important, but nesting is of particular importance. At this time, the birds breed offspring, they require a lot of additional costs – both time and energy. Therefore, only those individuals that do so in favorable places for them, to which they are best adapted, reproduce successfully.

Why don’t our birds usually nest in the tropics, for example? There are two main reasons here. First, they are not well adapted to local conditions. That is, they can live there, get their own food, even sing, but they are not enough for more. It is difficult to find a suitable place for a nest, it is difficult to feed chicks, etc. And secondly, in the tropics there are a lot of local sedentary species that “outplay” migrants in competition – both directly (for example, for nesting shelters) and in indirect (for food).

But it also happens that our northern birds and somewhere far to the south find suitable conditions for themselves and stay there to nest. In some cases, this may even lead to the emergence of new forms over time. A good example is the mallard duck (Anas platyrchynchus, Fig. 1), common in central Russia, including within Moscow. And besides this, it breeds throughout North America and Eurasia, from the tundra to the subtropics. So this view is very plastic. Therefore, it is perhaps not surprising that some populations, having got to tropical islands during migrations, remained there to live and became sedentary.

Mallard (left female, right male).

Now such forms are even considered separate (but close) species. These are the Hawaiian mallard Anas (platyrhynchus) wyvilliana and the Laysan teal Anas (platyrhynchus) laysanensis, both species from the Hawaiian Islands (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Hawaiian mallard (left) and Laysan teal. Males and females in these species do not differ and resemble the female of the common mallard.

There are even more interesting exceptions. One of them is the black silky waxwing (Phainopepla nitens, Fig. 3), which lives in North America. This bird manages to nest twice a year. In the spring, she breeds chicks in California. And by autumn it migrates to Colorado. Here she nests again. Such nesting in two different places is a unique case in birds. So, as is typical of zoology in general, there are only general tendencies or rules with many different exceptions.

Rice 3. Silky black waxwing (Phainopepla nitens). Left male, right female.

Finally, it is necessary to tell briefly why birds generally fly away to warmer climes in winter. The main reason is the lack of food. Therefore, first of all, those species of birds that feed on openly living insects fly away. In winter, such food, of course, is not found. So they migrate, one might say, forcedly. The same species that can find food in winter remain in our area. These are, for example, tits, deftly looking for sleeping insects in various crevices and diversifying their diet with seeds. Or the great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), which feeds on spruce and pine seeds in winter.

Why?
But why do birds that nest in the northern latitudes and winter in the tropics do this and not otherwise. Why don’t they, for example, nest in the tropics in the winter, and not go to the north to rest in the summer? To answer this, we must also consider the evolutionary aspect. Namely – the history of the settlement of species.

The fact is that many of our bird species are of southern origin. All of them are from Africa or South Asia. In the course of their evolutionary history, they gradually settled out of these areas. New populations and species were formed, adapting to new, more northerly, conditions. Faced with unfavorable conditions in winter under new conditions, these birds were forced to migrate south. And this path ran to those areas where these species originally originated. A kind of historical memory. Therefore, there is a well-known analogy that the path of migration in general terms repeats the path of dispersal of the species. Of course, it is not necessary to accurately connect the wintering area and the area where the resettlement began. There is a correspondence here, but it is approximate. So, if a species winters in tropical Asia, we can talk about its Asian origin, but not necessarily tropical.

Wintering areas may remain conservative, even if this is not very convenient. Such, for example, is the situation with the Dubrovnik bunting (Emberiza aureola) – an Asian species that has recently settled in Europe, up to the Baltic states. Of course, it would be shorter for European birds to fly to Africa for wintering; nevertheless, they fly “in the old fashioned way” to Southeast Asia – like birds from Siberia and the Far East (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Nesting (red) and wintering (green) areas of Dubrovnik bunting. The scheme was compiled based on materials from the site xeno-canto.org, photo by A. S. Opaev

Dubrovnik has only recently started breeding in Europe. But most of the other species, older natives of Asia, have changed their wintering grounds over time. European populations began to spend the winter in Africa – which, obviously, is both closer and more convenient.

So the history of a species is also important for understanding how it behaves now. But none of the three aspects (mechanism, function, evolution), taken separately, can answer the question. And only in the aggregate do they paint a complete picture of why and why the birds return back in the spring.

Alexey Opaev

sources

Flights of birds have amazed people since time immemorial.
Do you know that Homer wrote about this 1000 years before our era, that it is mentioned in the Bible, that the great ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle studied this issue?

And yet, after many thousands of years, we still cannot fully answer the question about this amazing phenomenon – bird flights. By migration, we mean the movement of birds south in autumn and north in spring, their movement from the plains to the highlands or from the depths of the mainland to the sea coast.

We have a pretty good idea why birds fly. For example, they move to warmer climes because many of them cannot survive in winter conditions. Those birds that feed on certain types of insects or small rodents cannot find food for themselves in winter. Oddly enough, temperature itself is not the reason for flying. Did you know that, for example, your canary can survive in temperatures as low as -45°C if it has enough food?

Whatever the reasons flights (and there are many), how do birds know that it is time for them to go on their long flight? It is known that they fly away every year at the same time when the seasons change. And what is the surest, unmistakable sign of such a change The length of the day!Birds are supposed to be able to tell when the days are getting shorter (or longer in the spring) and this is the signal for them to fly!

Since the birds breed in the summer, this is also related to migration. Only in this case we are talking about a flight to the north. Certain glands in the bird’s body begin to produce substances associated with reproduction. This happens in the spring. The bird feels the need to reproduce and heads north, where summer comes.

Thus, the length of daytime and the disappearance of food tell the bird when to go to warmer climes. And the instinct of procreation in the spring says that it’s time to fly north. There are, of course, other factors that we do not yet fully understand, but what is listed, without a doubt, is the main key to unraveling the mystery of bird flights.

How do birds find their way when they fly?
At the end of summer, many birds in different parts of the world leave their native places and fly to the south for the winter. Sometimes they travel to other continents thousands of miles away. In the spring, these same birds return not only to the same country, but often even to the same nest in the same house! How do they find their way?

Many interesting experiments have been done to find the answer. During one of them, a group of storks was taken from their nests shortly before the time of the autumn migration and moved to another place. From this new location they had to fly in a different direction to reach their winter quarters. But when the time came, they flew in the same direction they flew from their old spot! It seems that they have an innate instinct that tells them to fly in a certain direction when winter approaches.

The ability of birds to find their way home is no less amazing. Birds were taken away from their native places by plane for 400 miles. When they were released, they flew back to themselves!

Simply saying that instinct takes them home does not explain the mystery. How do they find their way? We know that young birds don’t get geography lessons from their parents because the parents are often the first to fly themselves. And the birds that fly home often fly at night, so they can’t see the landmarks that would help them. Some birds fly over water where there are no landmarks at all.

One hypothesis is that birds can sense the magnetic fields that surround the Earth. Magnetic lines are located in the direction from the north magnetic pole to the south. Perhaps it is these lines that serve as guides for birds. But this theory has not been proven.

Science does not actually have an exhaustive explanation of how birds find their way when they fly, or how they find their native places! One curious historical fact is connected with the flights of birds. As Columbus approached the American continent, he saw large flocks of birds heading southwest. This meant that the land was somewhere nearby, and he changed course and headed in the southwest direction, where the birds flew. And so he landed in the Bahamas, instead of ending up on the coast of Florida!

How far do birds fly?
Everyone knows that birds fly. People use the departure and return of some birds in order to predict the onset of the next season. But no one fully understands why birds make such long journeys.

We cannot explain this by temperature change alone. Feathers can very well protect the bird from the cold. Of course, with the onset of cold weather, there is a lack of food for birds, and this may be the explanation for their flights to where food is plentiful. But then why do they fly north again in the spring? Some experts believe that there is a relationship between climate change and the instinct to procreate.

Whatever the reasons for migrating, birds are without a doubt the champions of all living things that migrate. And the champions among birds are arctic terns. These amazing birds fly a distance of 22,000 miles in one year!

Terns breed in vast areas from the Arctic Circle to Massachusetts. These birds fly to Antarctica in about 20 weeks, flying an average of about 1,000 miles per week.

Most birds make fairly short hauls during their migrations. But one bird, the American golden plover, makes a long, non-stop flight over the open ocean. It can fly straight from Nova Scotia (Canada) to South America 2400 miles above the water without a single stop!

Is it on the same day every year that birds begin their migrations? Much has been written about this, and many people believe that it is so. But there are no birds that fly every year on the same day, although some are very close to this. The famous swallows from Capistrano, California are said to leave on October 23rd and return on the 19th.Martha. Although this is considered an accepted fact, the date of their departure and return, as it turns out, varies from year to year.

Migrations are characteristic of many living beings. Many animals go on long journeys seasonally, fish migrate. Some species of birds fly south due to the change of season. But why do they do it? With the same salmon, everything is relatively clear – red fish leaves the rivers for the sea for feeding, but returns to breed. There is not enough food in the river for large fish, and in the sea there are no conditions for spawning. But why do birds fly away? Why do some of them live settled in their territory, while others travel great distances?

This is mainly due to food supply and climate. This issue is worthy of deep consideration, because the mechanisms of flights are not unambiguous.

Is it only the cold that stimulates flights?

Many people believe that birds fly away because of the cold. Indeed, in autumn, temperatures drop rapidly, and people have to get warm clothes out of the closets. But do birds really get cold? This moment is very doubtful, since the plumage of the vast majority of them is very warm. Winter cold is quite capable of enduring even a domestic parrot. And large individuals, the same cranes that leave the northern latitudes in beautiful wedges, should not freeze at all. Under the feathers of each bird is a layer of fluff, which provides reliable thermal insulation even at temperatures of -45 degrees. What drives them to fly?

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The situation becomes clearer if you take a closer look at the diet of migratory birds and their non-flying counterparts. Wintering is easily tolerated by omnivorous birds, which easily find food for themselves in any season, especially near humans. Sparrows, crows, doves – they can all find enough food for themselves. If we consider storks, cranes – with the advent of cold weather, they lose access to food. Ponds freeze, they cannot hunt frogs and lizards. Insectivorous birds also remain without food – in winter, insects disappear, some of them die, the other part is in hibernation.

Why are the birds coming back?

In the southern parts of the world, the birds find good food for themselves, they can survive the winter. But what drives them back, because they could stay there forever? It turns out that this moment is associated with reproduction, as in fish. With the approach of the breeding season, the corresponding hormones and other active substances begin to be produced in the organisms of birds, with an increase in their volume in the blood, the birds return to where they themselves were once born. They fly north to give birth to a new generation, which by autumn will fly south with their parents, then to return home to the north.

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Where is the motherland of migratory birds?

Such an incredible attraction to the Motherland is inherent in birds instinctively, they breed only where they themselves once hatched from an egg. They fly south temporarily, and it is the northern regions that can be considered their homeland. Birds strongly, firmly remember everything that was seen, felt by them immediately after hatching. It is worth remembering that even ducklings consider their mother to be the one they first saw after being born, and can stubbornly follow not only their true duck mother, but also a dog, a person.

Nature has arranged the lifestyle of birds in such a way that many of them constantly migrate from one habitat to another, and this happens due to changes in weather conditions. Since the temperature regime greatly affects the life and reproduction of birds, they usually leave their native lands when winter comes, and return back in the spring, in March-May.

Arrival of birds after wintering
always means one thing: the cold has receded and given way to heat. And here it becomes interesting for many to find out which birds arrive first in the spring.

Which birds arrive first

Many do not even suspect that all migratory birds follow a certain arrival schedule, and each species strictly follows it. It is also interesting that they all return to their former place of residence and even to their previously built nests. If something happened to the nest during the absence of feathered hosts, then the latter settle down again, after which they breed offspring in them.

So, in what order spring birds arrive:

What other birds come in spring

Speaking of spring feathered heralds, one should not forget about such as nightingale and swallow
.

First, let’s talk about the nightingales, because these are the ones that are recognizable by how wonderfully they can sing. And despite its very inconspicuous appearance (this bird is gray with a brownish tint), the nightingale has a charming voice that fascinates everyone without exception.

Another bright symbol of spring is swallows. These birds do not know how to sing like nightingales, but they are very fond of settling closer to people, often equipping their nests in the hallways, under the balconies and eaves of houses. They can also often be seen in the gorges above the rivers.

Arrival calendar of spring birds

For many, many years, people have been watching the arrival of birds from the warm lands of their native places, and ornithologists, thanks to scientific research, were able to compile a calendar of the arrival of birds:

• rooks return from 18 to 20 March;
• March 25-April 6 – starlings arrive;
• April 1-10 – finches, larks, swans and blackbirds arrive during this period;
• April 11-20 – ducks and geese, cranes and gulls return to their native lands;
• end of April – redstarts, forest pipits, foams;
• first half of May – swallows and flycatchers arrive;
• swifts and nightingales usually return in mid-May;
• Orioles return at the end of May.

In addition to certain periods of time in which birds return to their native lands, there are also certain routes along which they travel.

Interesting signs associated with the arrival of birds in spring

Arrival of spring birds –
is always a sign that winter has receded and spring and warm weather are ahead. And it has long been customary to associate their certain behavior with some signs, for example:

It is with the melting of snow and the cheerful whistle of birds that the arrival of spring is
. Schoolchildren begin to make birdhouses at labor lessons, and the first swallow nests begin to appear under the roofs of houses.

Twice a year, in spring and autumn, the great pendulum moves, rolling birds over the body of our planet. Twice a year, feathered nomads rush from the equator to the pole and from the pole to the equator.

Why?

It is clear why the birds leave the north – cold, starvation. But what makes them return and breed necessarily in our area? – Lack of food in the southern latitudes, crowding? Many serious studies have shown that this is not the case. So some ancient instinct?

Recent experiments by Soviet ornithologists have shown that attachment to wintering and nesting places exists only among old birds. Yes, and they often deviate by tens, even hundreds of kilometers, choosing new areas for themselves. For young birds, which for the first time set off on a journey without adults, “loyalty to traditions” is even less characteristic. If, for example, the chicks were transported from the nesting place to other areas, then in the spring the young birds returned to the place of the “autumn start”, but not to the place of the parental nesting. However, once flying out of the already chosen wintering or nesting places, young birds often return there.

There appear to be two kinds of orientation among migratory birds: ‘gross’ orientation for first-time migrants and ‘purposive’ for repeat migrants. Apparently, only the first form of orientation is inherited, while the second is acquired.

So, the instinct of migration in birds really exists, but it is far from being as rigidly stereotyped as it was assumed until recently. If its original cause was, as is sometimes believed, an ancient glaciation that caused birds to become migratory, then could it have survived for many millennia without a serious reinforcing stimulus? Very doubtful. But such a reinforcing stimulus, obviously, cannot be the lack of food and space in the southern latitudes. Nor can it be the “memory” of the advancing glaciers, which have been gone for a long time. There must be some other serious reason, from generation to generation, forcing birds to breed without fail in the north.

Recently, and especially in the last decade, the attention of researchers has been increasingly drawn to the role that magnetic, electric and electromagnetic fields (EMFs) play in the life of animals. Being an integral part of the environment, these fields must obviously leave a deep imprint on all living things. Gradually, scientists are convinced that this is the way it is (the article “Worlds of EMF” in the third issue of “Around the World” for 1970).

Naturally, the question arose: is there an unknown reason that encourages birds to fly in the sphere of EMF influence on their life activity? Here, the recent studies of the Soviet scientist, Candidate of Biological Sciences A. S. Presman, reveal a lot of new things. They cover a wide range of issues. What makes birds fly? How do they find their way? How does this orientation mechanism of theirs work?

The answers to all these questions are interesting. In particular, it is proved that the migratory flock is a single navigation system and that in the course of both training and flight, the skill of geomagnetic orientation is formed in the young generation. A. S. Presman shows how such an orientation is carried out, how a group conditioned reflex to geomagnetic fields arises, and how it correlates with the reflex to visible celestial and terrestrial landmarks. But let us dwell in more detail on explaining the reasons forcing birds to overcome the hardships of thousands of kilometers of travel.

Experiments have shown that sharp fluctuations in electromagnetic fields affect the course of physiological processes in a living organism. A particularly strong shift occurs in young, developing organisms. It has been established that even a short-term effect of enhanced electromagnetic fields on the vibrio during the incubation period disrupts its development and sometimes even destroys it.

Meanwhile, the tropics differ from temperate latitudes, in particular, by the fact that in the south … there are much more thunderstorms. A lot more! In tropical latitudes, the number of thunderstorm days per year is ten times greater than in middle latitudes, and hundreds of times greater than in polar latitudes. And every thunderstorm is a stormy burst of electromagnetic radiation…

It is speculated that the birds are heading north to protect their offspring from the violent electromagnetic fields generated by tropical thunderstorms. In the name of this, in the name of fulfilling the main biological function – the preservation of the species – birds neglect the best conditions of the south, overcome all the difficulties and dangers associated with long-distance flights. Of course, this is no small sacrifice. But in nature, far greater sacrifices are also known: salmon fish die, if only to spawn tai, where the best conditions are provided for the offspring. An individual is nothing, a species – all this is rightly dictated by the harsh laws of biological evolution.

At first glance, A. S. Presman’s hypothesis is contradicted by the fact that some species of birds do not fly anywhere from the tropics. But here is what is curious: sedentary birds breed in places with a low level of thunderstorm activity. And their physiological processes proceed somewhat differently. And here’s another strange thing: there are much fewer southern sedentary birds on Earth than migratory ones…

The impetus for flights can be an increase in magnetic activity that occurs throughout the planet twice a year – during the spring and autumn equinoxes. This assumption is confirmed by experiments that show that an increase in the magnetic field only two times higher than the geomagnetic level increases the motor activity of birds.