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Index of Subjects Hi All, Last Saturday, 18 August my wife and I were at Huntington's Point, Kings Co.,NS (45.196797,-64.645715), at lunch time and saw seven Common loons and one Whimbrel. I heard a noise that I at first thought was a Loon, maybe a young one just learning to yodel, but soon saw the Whimbrel fly in from the east and land on the rocks, it stayed close by for about half an hour during the high tide and then flew to the west along the shore. This is a quiet area of the Fundy shore but there are not often birds of interest, this past weekend was a treat. George Forsyth Quoting BSC NS Plovers <nsplovers@gmail.com>: > Hi all, > > If you admire Whimbrels as I do, check out Centre for Conservation > Biology's Whimbrel Tracking project: > http://ccb-wm.org/programs/migration/Whimbrel/whimbrel.htm. This project > sheds light on the miraculous journeys Whimbrels undertake to reach their > wintering grounds - sometimes through huge storms - and the threats they > face from shorebird hunts on some Caribbean islands. > > Jim Wolford passed on a message he received recently from Fletcher Smith, a > research biologist with Centre for Conservation Biology, who gave a > fascinating update on one of their tagged Whimbrels, "Pingo." Pingo flew > across Canada to northeastern NS on its migration south (see Pingo's flight > path: http://wildlifetracking.org/index.shtml?tag_id=103520&anime=1). > > I thought I'd share an excerpt from Fletcher Smith's message: > > "One of the whimbrels (“Pingo”) that we satellite tagged this summer (in > collaboration with the Canadian Wildlife Service) in the Mackenzie River > Delta is currently migrating from Nova Scotia to points south and has just > entered Tropical Depression 9. This bird began migration on 18 August and > has flown 2200 miles so far before hitting this storm, with at least > another 1000 miles to go to make landfall. > > Pingo is entering the northeast quadrant of the storm, which seems to be > how whimbrels tackle these events, and we expect this bird (based on > previous whimbrel routes) to fly towards the center of the storm and then > use the southwest quadrant (and the tailwinds that quadrant produces) as a > boost towards landfall. Last fall “Hope” the whimbrel took 27 hours and > averaged 9mph flying through a similar sized storm, and then flew an > average of 92mph for 1.5 hours out the back end towards land! > > We can only hope that the bird does not land in Guadeloupe, Martinique, > French Guiana, or any other countries with a shorebird hunt. We also know > that many thousands of shorebirds will be forced to land in such places due > to the timing and size of this storm. I used to get nervous about the > birds entering the storms and wondered if they could make it through, now > I’ve come to realize it’s not the storms it’s where you land." > > We can all get involved by sharing Whimbrel observations from excursions > along shores and coastal barrens this summer and fall through naturens > and/or eBird.ca. > > Happy shorebirding! > > Sue Abbott > Bird Studies Canada-NS >
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