In late June, we satellite-tagged 15 Bristle-thighed Curlews on their breeding grounds in the Andreafsky Wilderness of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in western Alaska http://yukondelta.fws.gov/. We then used satellite telemetry to track the movements of the tagged birds. We found that they remained on the breeding grounds for 2–5 weeks after chicks hatched and in mid-late July they flew to sites in southwest Alaska to rest and fatten-up prior to their southbound migration. In early August the first birds left Alaska and, over the next few weeks, we tracked 11 of them as they flew to atolls and islands in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, The Republic of Kiribati, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and the Republic of Nauru.
All transmitters were off the air by late December(most by late September) as they reached the limit of their battery life. You can view maps showing the movements of individual birds on the 'maps' page. Additionally, in early December biologists Lee Tibbitts and Eric VanderWerf traveled to the Republic of the Marshall Islands to observe curlews at non-breeding sites. Lee and Eric met with local citizens, scientists, and naturalists to present the results of this year’s study and promote the conservation of curlews in the region. They also observed one of the satellite-tagged curlews (Y5) during their visit. Click here to read descriptions for their trip and see the route of their travels! |
