Shorebird Migrates Through Hurricane Irene By Elizabeth Weise | USA TODAY | Aug. 28, 2011 Anxious scientists watched with relief this weekend when a satellite signal assured them that a small shorebird they had been tracking somehow managed to survive flying through some dangerous winds of Hurricane Irene. The whimbrel, nicknamed Chinquapin by the Georgia wildlife staffers who tagged him with a radio transmitter, had taken off from his summer feeding grounds on Southampton Island in Canada's Arctic on Aug. 22. He was making the annual flight to Brazil near the mouth of the Amazon River, where whimbrels breed. Chinquapin flew across New England, and then out over the ocean. On Wednesday, he flew through the dangerous northeast quadrant of the hurricane, which was then a Category 3. After disappearing from sensors, the bird popped up again Saturday - on an island in the Caribbean. Whimbrels are "capable of really amazing migration flights" of up to 3,500 miles without a rest, says Bryan Watts, director of the College of William & Mary's Center for Conservation Biology in Williamsburg, Va. Chinquapin had already been flying several days without stopping when he ran into Irene. "It's sort of bad to hit a big storm at the end of a flight that long," Watts says. Chinquapin's progress was impressive, Watts says. "When he was in the outer bands of the storm he was flying at 30 miles per hour." Whimbrels, which stand about a foot-and-a-half tall, have been clocked at speeds of 40 to 50 mph in clear weather. The transmitter he wears is attached with a leg loop harness and sits on his lower back and weighs a third of an ounce. When Chinquapin disappeared from the satellite tracking system, research biologist Libby Mojica says she started checking her computer "every 30 seconds" to see whether he had popped back up. Things were tense until Friday, when researchers finally got a single satellite fix from Chinquapin's transmitter at 4:20 p.m., showing that he was on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas. Even so, the scientists weren't convinced until they got multiple signals so they could triangulate his position. Finally, on Saturday, they got confirmation. "We have had several locations that put the bird on that island and the collective locations and sensor data suggest the bird is fine," Watts says. After hanging out in the Bahamas for a few days, Chinquapin will likely complete his migration to the northern coast of South America, Watts says. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/scienc...d-migrates-through-Hurricane-Irene/50168920/1 .. The little tagged shorebird spent the summer at the feeding ground in Canadas Artic before taking off for his breeding ground at the mouth of the Amazon River in Btazil. He flew across New England, then out over the ocean where he ran into the dangerous northeast quadrant of Hurricane Irene which was then a category 3 where he lost contact with the scientists who worried about him until he popped up again on Saturday at a Caribbean Island. I cant believe that a teeny bird could fly from the Artic, thru all that rain, hail, and wind of Category 3 Hurricane Irene and land in the Caribbean, rest for the weekend, then fly the remainder of his migration to his breeding grounds in Brazil within the next few days. Even if we could fly, I don't think humans would have the stamina to achieve a trip in such a short time as the lowly shorebird does. Just think, we wouldn't have to book any reservations ever, nor get patted at check-in points at the airport, endure any privacy concerns, and then be subject to delays and cancellations.
