Etymology

bird of passage

bird of pass·age

Today it means: A migratory bird, especially a passage migrant (“a bird that stops somewhere for a short time during a seasonal migration”). Full definition →

Middle French oiseau de passage
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The story

  1. Middle French · calque ofoiseau de passage
  2. English todaybird of passage

Probably a calque of Middle French oiseau de passage: oiseau (“bird”), passage (“part of a journey or route, passage”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.