Winnie the Whimbrel’s Record Flight

The College of William and Mary along with the Nature Conservancy have recently recorded a wayward Whimbrel, which they named Winnie, completing a record flight. In 146 hours this radio-tracked shorebird traversed 3,200 miles [nearly 22 MPH].

Whimbrel

Photo from Mike Baird (Flickr Creative Commons)

“This discovery sets a new distance record in the flight range of this species and highlights the hemispheric importance of the Delmarva Peninsula as a staging area for migratory shorebirds. The flight documented this spring challenges some long-held assumptions and raises several new questions about Whimbrel ecology.” - Bryan Watts, Director of the Center for Conservation Biology.

As these transmitters get smaller and lighter, this sort of tracking will prove crucial to all sorts of migrant birds and bird conservation. Read the entire article from W&M News.

Tagged as: Whimbrel