Six female Whimbrels were caught,
measured, weighed, equipped with trackers, and named. They were then
released back into the marsh where they were found. From that day
forward the birds could be followed as long as their satellites
remained operational.
Out of the six, the bird named Hope
came into our lives. After she was fitted with this new piece of
baggage she remained in the marsh for another two weeks, fattening up
on fiddler crabs and getting used to her transmitter. The
transmitter's are designed so that they don't impede a birds flight
or foraging behavior and the weight was kept down to 9.5 grams. A
Whimbrel can gain and lose nearly 40% of their weight during
migration so the transmitter is no burden to the birds.
Hope finally left Delmarva and headed
north for the Hudson Bay. She did a few brief stops to refuel before
heading west to the MacKenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories off
the Beaufort Sea. Here in the arctic she finally stopped for the
breeding season. After spending 6-8 weeks there she took off to head
to her wintering grounds. Most of the Whimbrels that had been tracked
previously were followed as far south as Brazil but Hope, after
flying east across the Northwest Territories took off out over the
Atlantic from Maine. She traveled non-stop in a half circle that took
her east of Bermuda until finally landing on the island of St. Croix
days later. By August of 2009 she had already traveled about 13,000
miles since her capture.
When she landed on St. Croix the
scientists tracking her thought it was just a refueling stop. Local
birders Lisa Yntema and myself caught wind of her arrival and went
out to Great Pond to see if we could find and photograph her. As luck
would have it we found her quickly and took some fuzzy photos. Lisa
contacted the researchers in Virginia, forwarded the pics and we
waited to see what she would do next.
The scientists thought she would stay
on island a few weeks to build up fat so she could complete her
journey south but as the days, weeks and months went by it became
evident that St. Croix's Great Pond was her wintering ground. It
wasn't until April of 2010 that she finally took off to head back to
the breeding grounds on the MacKenzie Delta. She stopped again in the
staging area of the Delmarva Peninsula where she had been captured.
Fed on fiddler crabs and fattened up for another trip north.
Once again she went to her breeding
grounds, nested, and then made the great trek back to St. Croix.
Again Lisa Yntema found her at Great Pond, recorded her appearance
and forwarded the results back to the scientists. April of 2011 she
took off again and repeated the sequence of events except this time
after leaving the nesting area in August and flying out off the
Canadian Maritimes she ran into tropical storm Gert. She flew for 27
hours at only 9mph through Gert until finally reaching the backside
of the storm where, after 2 hours flying at 92mph, she landed safely
on Cape Cod. She only stayed there one day before going back to
Virginia.
In the marsh she knew so well she
weathered Hurricane Irene which completely submerged the habitat.
Fletcher Smith who had originally outfitted her hasn't figured out
how she survived there with everything under water but she did. In
September she and Machi, another Whimbrel that had a transmitter,
left within a day of each other only to intersect with Tropical storm
Maria. Machi landed on Guadaloupe and was shot by hunters but Hope
landed safely at Great Pond on St. Croix.
After the take down in Guadaloupe
Fletcher flew down to retrieve the satellite transmitters from two
birds that ended up being shot. Knowing that we had been able to find
Hope and that she was in a semi protected area he felt it was crucial
to come to St. Croix and do some talks to focus on the importance of
wetland areas in the islands to migrating birds. Hope was the star of
his presentations for she was the only Whimbrel that had survived so
far.
After wintering on St. Croix for
another season she did her round trip once more. Stopping in Virginia
to load up on food, flying to the Arctic, nesting, then back to Great
Pond with out encountering any hurricanes. She arrived September 4th,
but by September 10th her transmitter had gone silent.
Lisa found her again and discovered that the antenna had snapped off.
Contacting Fletcher in Virginia it was determined that he would need
to come down try to recapture her and take the transmitter off.
He arrived late evening November 17 and
before the sun rose the next day he had set up a blind to hide in
while trying to catch Hope. The idea was to use noose mats created
out of chicken wire and fishing line. Hundreds of little nooses
littered the frame work. These mats were placed down flat in the area
that Hope was known to frequent. For two long 12 hour days she teased
Fletcher and Lisa, even walking across the mats four times, until
finally on the third day while trying to defend her territory from
another Whimbrel she stepped on a mat that had been spray painted to camouflage it. At 9:30am on November 20th Hope's job was
finished. She was freed of the transmitter and set loose.
According to Fletcher wild birds that
will never live in harmony with man occupy the wildest regions of the
world. We need to educate everyone that their livelihoods are
dependent upon us maintaining those places in as pristine a manner as
possible. Hope is a scientific success story. She has revealed so
much that was not known to researcher's and is an inspiration to all
of us that came in contact with her amazing travels.
Great Pond is designated as an
Important Bird Area which is a global effort to conserve areas that
are vital to migrating birds. By working to identify areas to
conserve for ourselves and the birds we can help to slow the pace of
decline migrating birds are suffering from. Hope is our banner bird
for the island of St. Croix but there are many more that stop and or
winter here that are just as important as she is.
See Ya Next Week
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