[wisb] Whimbrel tracking
- From: Cutright.Noel <Noel.Cutright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:07:54 +0000
Fletcher Smith, of William & Mary's Center for Conservation Biology writes:
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 (soon to be Hurricane Isaac). 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.
The following is a recent press release for 3 other tracked Whimbrels and has a
map of their routes. Noel Cutright, Ozaukee County
http://ccb-wm.org/news/pressreleases_pdfs/20120814_whimbrel.pdf
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