Non-Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species do not make significant seasonal migrations. Juvenile dispersal is not considered a migration.

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Populations nesting in northern latitudes are highly migratory; those nesting in northern maritime climates, at mid-latitudes, and in the Southern Hemisphere much less so (Cade 1982). Tundra breeders migrate farthest, bypassing those farther south; a few winter in Florida, some in Caribbean, perhaps some in Central America, most in southern South America (Palmer 1988). Breeders from central Alaska migrated through central North America and wintered in southern Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean region, and South America (Britten et al. 1995). Two breeders from southern Utah migrated through western Mexico, and one continued to a wintering site in Nicaragua (Britten et al. 1995).

In the U.S., the Atlantic coast from New Jersey to South Carolina and the barrier islands of the Texas Gulf Coast are important feeding areas for long-distance migrants.

Arrives in northern breeding areas late April-early May; departure begins late August-early September (Johnson and Herter 1989). See Palmer (1988) for further information on timing of migration.

From Padre Island, Texas, a northbound migrant reached south-central Canada in four days, and a southbound migrant passed through Mexico and reached Guatemala in six days (Chavez-Ramirez et al. 1994).