Mapping Migraciones

“Mapping Migraciones” is a year-long project by Audubon and Latino Outdoors celebrating Latinidad, migration, and the stories that connect us across the globe.

The interactive map uses migratory bird data and stories from people like you to give us a full picture of how birds and people are connected through geography and culture. Check in throughout the year to see the map grow to include more birds, migration patterns, and stories.

Want a deeper dive? Panels and discussions throughout the year will give you an opportunity to learn more about the joy of migration.

The migration journey began for my great great grandparents Juan and Carmen Vargas, born in Jalisco, Mexico. Their trip from Guadalajara ended in a border town called Piedras Negras, where my great grandfather Jose Carrillo was born.

Eventually, Jose was able to move to El Paso, Texas where he married my great grandmother, Natividad. Jose and Nati moved their familia to Los Angeles in the early 1930's. Los Angeles is where Rafaela Carrillo (Grandmother), working as a riveter for Lockheed Cooperation, would meet Marcos Trinidad (Grandfather) in 1940.

The two married and started a family in Northeast Los Angeles, one block from the current location of the Audubon Center at Debs Park. Over 70 years later I continue to live in Northeast Los Angeles with my wife Yuliana and my two children Paloma Ziji and Bija Fox.

As a young adult, I was interested in researching my family history and in that journey, I visited multiple locations throughout California and Mexico. Some areas I continue to visit regularly. Specifically, the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea is an inland lakebed where some white pelicans winter. Through my childhood I visited the Salton Sea and have memories of these majestic birds flying across the lake. As a young college student returning to the Salton Sea to study geology, I reconnected with the white pelican. 

Nature is a way for me to experience the untamed beauty that exist all around us. Nature is a way for me to connect to a moment in time when there was a balance. When I'm out and can observe nature, I able to understand that the natural world around us doesn't change, we change. We as humans change how we view the world and how we connect to the world. When I can watch a bird live in the moment, I'm able to connect to a moment in time where I can reflect and appreciate our role as caretakers of this planet.

My great great grandfather Luis migrated to find work. He was able to find consistent work in laying track in the 1890’s. After Union Pacific declared bankruptcy in 1893, a new company emerged and relied heavily on migrant workers to do “cheap labor” in order for the company to save money. My great grandfather Jose also began working for Union Pacific railway. As a young man, he would commute across the U.S. boarder to work on the railroad under a work permit as a documented “Alien” for many years. As the railway headed west, so did my great grandfather. East LA is where my great grandfather would call home. 

I learned to be grateful that I was born in this country and to a family that values hard work and honesty. I'm grateful for the struggles that my family has gone through to migrate here because it has prepared us to develop coping mechanisms and a family structure that is unbreakable. As we experience intense hardships due to the pandemic, I'm able to apply principles and values that allow me to guide my children through a crisis with compassion and love. 

With bright white bodies, their black flight feathers are visually distinctive as they soar through the air effortlessly. These birds have a long neck with long yellow bills with and extendable pouch that is used to scoop fish out of the water. Breeding individuals will grow a vertical plate near the tip of their bills. After breeding season, the plate will eventually fall off.

My mom was born in Montevideo, Uruguay and my dad was born in Tambores, Uruguay. In 1985, my mom moved to Miami Beach, Florida to meet up with her father (my Abuelo) who had moved to the US in the 60s. After my mom arrived, my dad followed her and arrived in 1986.

Around 2008, my family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. After college and graduate school, I moved to Los Angeles, California and my parents moved back to Miami.

My dad has always loved nature. I have many memories of him telling me stories of his childhood as a guacho - sleeping under the stars, raising wild animals as pets, and riding horses. For him, nature is healing and rejuvenating - it's where he goes to escape all his troubles.

When I'm in nature, I feel the peace he described. I think back on all his stories and try to imagine what nature looks like through his eyes: a place to explore, to grow, and to heal.

When my abuelo came to the US, he left behind his jewelry business in Montevideo. Upon arriving in the US, he got a job interview that asked him to use machinery he had never used. While he tried to figure it out, a nail went through his thumb. He took the nail out, cauterized his wound and kept working. He saw this job as a chance to get the American dream and didn't want to miss that opportunity. Ten years later, he opened his own jewelry shop.

Similarly, my parents worked extremely hard to build a future in a new country. They encountered many challenges (a new language, a new culture, a lack of resources), but they didn't let that get them down. Instead, they focused on how their current situation could create new opportunities for themselves and their family.

My mom knew how important it was to take advantage of education in the US. She enrolled me in gifted programs, magnet schools, and extracurricular activities to ensure I was getting as many opportunities to succeed academically.

Their chest is light brown with a white belly, which often creates a hooded appearance as they soar gracefully through the sky. Swainson’s hawks have long wings with pointed tips. Male and female look similar.

In the 1940's Andres, mi abuelo, first came as a "bracero" under the "Bracero Program", a program for single men brought to work the agricultural fields. There were no jobs in Mexico and there seemed to be no good future there. Hunger was the biggest drive to venture into a whole new world, not knowing the language or culture. And, not knowing anyone. They were risk-taking pioneers seeking new opportunities.

Later, Andres brought his wife to McAllen, Texas. He worked there several years, had four children, then migrated to California by car, with three other families (compadres). It took about 6 days to arrive in southern California. They then continued for several days to northern California, eventually settling in Merced County. Moving from one farmworker camp to another, working the agricultural fields with the entire family, the story went: there is gold in California. 

My abuela, Genoveva, loved the "sinsonte," a mockingbird that sang beautifully at sunrise and sunset. She always said,

The hummingbird was always a favorite because indigenous legends say these birds are the reincarnation of our loved ones.

No one called my abuelos "birders" but they seemed to know all the birds in their environment. And, they seemed to know much of the behavior of birds, especially their songs. They knew when birds were mating, where they build their nests, what foods they ate, among other observations. My abuelos lived outdoors with birds every day, most of their lives. 

One lesson I've learned from my family's migration journey is you can make it anywhere - working hard! Bring and keep your family together. And it is best to travel and work with close friends (compadres). Help each other out. Depend on the farmworkers communication network to determine where the best opportunities exist.

These birds have rounded wings and - relative to its size - a long, slim tail. Males have a distinct black crown patch (corona negra). Some mature females can have a smaller black crown patch. However, young birds and many females have no black crown patch.

Wilson's warblers are part of a group of birds that have rictal (area around the nose and eyes) bristles that form a “net” to help them catch insects. 

Both of my parents came from very humble backgrounds and found that there was very little opportunity for them in their home countries. My father's migration start point is Quito, Ecuador. My father first ended up in Northern Florida, where he worked as a labor worker. He helped build houses and mastered the craft of home repairs. One of the families he worked for appreciated his hard work and professionalism and decided to sponsor his US citizenship. He then made his way to New York, where he would eventually meet my mother, who had come from the Dominican Republic with her family.

Spending time outdoors is my opportunity to connect with my ancestors and show them gratitude. Gratitude for what they sacrificed for me, my people, and the Earth as a whole.

With a distinct buffy (brownish-yellow) eye ring and lores, the area between the bill and eyes, this bird gives the appearance that its wearing “spectacles” or glasses. The underside is white with dark brown spotting on the throat and chest.

In parts of New England the nests of Swainson’s Thrushes are often lined with root-like cords of horsehair fungus. This fungus can have antibiotic effects and may help deter nest pathogens.