Migration

Cooler temperatures this week are giving Michiganders a break from air conditioning and a chance to pull out their fall sweatshirts. For birds, it’s migration time — with more than 3.6 million birds moving across the state last night.

Monarch butterflies arrived in Michigan in late April and throughout May. While researchers and monitors on the ground say this is earlier than previous years, they're also seeing slightly lower numbers than usual.

Hundreds of millions of birds are flying over Michigan this fall as part of their annual migration south. These travelers include shorebirds, raptors, waterfowl and songbirds, that can fly thousands of miles without stopping.

U-Haul ranks the 50 states' migration based on what it calls “transactional data.”