Tracking Whimbrels for Conservation Action

Our Work

The first step toward taking conservation action for a shorebird species such as the Whimbrel is to identify important areas along their migratory route, as well as figure out how they behave at these locations. To help us answer these questions, we have begun to use lightweight (no more than five grams), solar-powered, satellite transmitters.

We have deployed transmitters on six Whimbrels in Cape Cod since 2015. These powerful devices allow us to collect detailed information as often as every 24 hours. Because Whimbrels are spending time at places where many shorebird species find shelter and resources, we can identify locations that are important for much more than just Whimbrel. Here in Massachusetts, we believe that Whimbrels are an ideal umbrella species that can represent the combined value of the saltmarshes and adjacent sand-spit islands of the outer coastal edge of the US Atlantic.

Migrant Ambassadors

Sachem

In September 2017, we tagged Sachem, a juvenile Whimbrel, in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. After being attached with a transmitter, she migrated south to a remote mangrove-covered coastline in Venezuela where she has remained for two years and counting. The data she transmits is shedding light on the behavior of Whimbrels during their first years of life—an area in shorebird ecology that has been widely unexplored until now. We anticipate that Sachem will make her first flight northward perhaps as soon as Spring 2020.

Ahanu

During the 2018 field season, we tagged Ahanu, an adult Whimbrel. On September 28th, Ahanu flew non-stop to the north coast of South America, and after brief stints in Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, Ahanu settled into a patch of Brazilian coastline for the winter. In April 2019, Ahanu departed, flying non-stop for four days to the Texas coast, where he proceeded to spend over one month replenishing his depleted energy stores and preparing for a flight northward to his breeding grounds.

In late May, Ahanu continued northward to his breeding grounds, which we now know lie within the Northwest Territories of Canada in the vast wetlands west of Hudson Bay. Whimbrels have strong site fidelity (commitment to returning to the same site year after year) for nesting and wintering, so we are confident that Ahanu returned to a very familiar place. In late July, Ahanu flew to the coast of Hudson Bay, Canada, where he stayed for nearly a month. Ahanu took off from there on Aug 19th, making a dramatic non-stop flight over Quebec, off the coast of Nova Scotia, and then returned to Cape Cod!

Manomet’s considerable suite of projects under our Shorebird Recovery Program addresses the necessary steps of successful conservation planning and management implementation. We identify priority focal sites, answer key conservation questions with our research, educate the public through workshops and outreach, and work with a growing number of biologists and landowners to improve important habitat conditions. We work throughout the Americas, from the high Arctic to Patagonian shores—essentially wherever shorebirds can be found in the hemisphere.  Manomet’s shorebird staff have led efforts and worked collaboratively toward conservation solutions for decades. Through tracking species like Whimbrels, we are able to inform critical decisions that can help protect the areas shorebirds rely on most.

Read more about our Whimbrel tracking work in the Fall 2018 issue of Manomet Magazine, and be sure to sign up for email updates from our shorebird team to stay in the loop on all the latest movements.