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Bird Migration Patterns - Western Hemisphere
eBird is a real-time, online checklist program, launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, that allows birdwatchers to enter their observations.
A recent study that explored these trajectories, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found broad similarities in the routes used by specific groups of species. A key finding from the study is that bird species that head out over the Atlantic Ocean during autumn migration to spend winter in the Caribbean and South America follow a clockwise looped trajectory and take a path farther inland on their return journey in the spring. Species that follow this broad pattern include Bobolinks, Yellow and Black-billed cuckoos, Connecticut and Cape May warblers, Bicknell’s Thrush, and shorebirds, such as the American Golden Plover. These looped pathways help the birds take advantage of more favorable winds during spring and autumn migration. For species that do not fly over the open ocean, the study finds that many use the same migration routes in the spring and fall.

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Data Source
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, NOAA Climate Prediction Center