Hope

Whimbrel Tracking in the Americas

A project of The Center for Conservation Biology.

click map for full-size version Map of Hope the Whimbrel's Migration, Wintering, and Breeding Locations

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Species: Whimbrel
Life Stage: Adult
Gender: Female
Release Date: 2009-05-19 00:00:00
Release Location: Eastern Shore of Virginia, USA
Last Location: 2012-09-05 00:00:00

Background

Fall/Winter 2012: Hope has once again flown to Great Pond in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. We recently had an abrupt end to the transmissions, and after reviewing pictures taken the first week of October we have determined that the antennae on the transmitter has broken off. We don not expect to receive any new transmissions from this bird. We plan on trapping Hope at Great Pond this winter, removing the transmitter, and then deploying a new transmitter on her if we can find a funding source.

Spring/Breeding/Fall Season 2012: After once again flying to staging grounds in Virginia "Hope" again flew to breeding grounds near Aklavik, NWT, Canada. She very likely had a successful breeding attempt before beginning her migration east and south. She spent a few days near Tuktoyuktuk and is now back on Southampton Island, where she will likely spend 21-24 days before heading south again! She has flown over 47,000 miles on her journeys since capture.

Fall Migration/Winter 2011: After staging on Southampton Island in northern Hudson Bay in July/August, Hope flew directly into Tropical Storm Gert (flying 250 miles in 27 hours). After flying through the storm center, Hope used the slingshot effect of the NW Quadrant of the storm to fly 150 miles to shore in a little over an hours time, averaging 92 miles per hour in this flight! She then rested on Cape Cod, Massachusetts for a day before flying down to her place of capture, Virginia's Eastern Shore. She rode out Hurricane Irene in the marshes of the shore, and is currently wintering in Great Pond in the US Virgin Islands.

Spring 2011: She is showing an amazing degree of site fidelity, following the same circuitous pathways for the last three years of migration events. She departed St. Croix, US Virgin Islands,on 5 April 2011 and arrived on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the evening of 7 April 2011, averaging around 44kph during the flight. She has flown 26,000+ miles since leaving the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the Spring of 2009. She was observed and photographed by Barry Truitt of The Nature Conservancy on the Eastern Shore of Virginia during the spring 2010 migration. She was also observed and by Lisa Yntema during both of her wintering events in the Virgin Islands.

Migration 2009-2010: Hope the Whimbrel was named after Hope Creek near the salt marsh where she was captured on in coastal Virginia. She was banded with green leg flag “AYY” in spring 2009. After release, she flew north to the James Bay then continued northwest to spend the summer on the Mackenzie River delta near the Beaufort Sea. In late summer 2009, she flew southeast through the Hudson Bay to Maine and then out over the Atlantic Ocean. She made landfall on the Caribbean island of St Croix after a 5,700 km flight that took 100 hours. Her flight during the spring of 2011 and spring/summer/fall of 2010 were very similar to the 2009 flights.