ccb-logo-vertical-shadowccb-logo-vertical-shadowccb-logo-vertical-shadowccb-logo-vertical-shadow
  • About Us
    • From the Director
    • Annual Report
    • Mission
    • History
    • Equipment Use Rates
    • Staff
    • Contact Information
  • What We Do
    • Education
      • Students
      • Internships
      • Public Presentations
    • Research
      • Species of Concern
        • Bald Eagle
          • Eagle Nest Locator
          • Annual Survey
          • Report a Nest
          • EagleTrak & Blog
          • Eagle Nest Blog
          • Facts About Eagles
          • Status in Virginia
          • Eagle Roosts
          • Migratory Populations
          • Eagle Video
          • Eagle Bands
          • Partners
        • Black Rail
          • Population
          • Protection Status
          • Threats
          • Working Group
        • Peregrine Falcon
          • Species Profile
          • Natural History
          • Falcon Populations
          • Virginia Reintroduction
          • Virginia Hacking
          • Virginia Monitoring
          • Virginia Management
          • FalconTrak
          • Report Falcon Sightings
          • Partners
        • Shorebird Roost Registry
        • Species of Concern Projects
      • Bird Migration
        • Bird Migration Projects
      • Human Impacts
        • Human Impacts Projects
      • Ecological Services
        • Ecological Services Projects
      • Tracking
        • Tracking Projects
  • Resources
    • Project Portal
    • Mapping Portal
    • Eagle Nest Locator
    • Publications
    • The Raven
    • Baker Library
      • Paul Seaman Baker
      • Contribute
  • News Room
    • News Stories
    • Press Releases
    • Media Coverage
    • Photo Essays
    • Conservation Stories
    • Blogs
      • EagleTrak Blog
      • Eagle Nest Blog
  • GIVE

Flight of Hope

  • Home
  • Press Release
  • Flight of Hope
Satellite Map Aug 1 to 11
August 12, 2009
Raccoon in Eagle Nest
August 14, 2009
Published by Center for Conservation Biology at August 14, 2009
Categories
  • Press Release
Tags
Map of migration route used by Hope from Southampton Island in upper Hudson Bay to near the Virgin Islands, 2009

Tracking map – Map of migration route used by Hope from Southampton Island in upper Hudson Bay to near the Virgin Islands. She has been tracked using a 9.5 gram, solar-powered satellite transmitter.

(Williamsburg, VA)—Hope, a whimbrel carrying a satellite transmitter, is far out to sea flying south over the Atlantic toward her wintering grounds in South America. The bird had been staging on Southampton Island in the northern reach of Hudson Bay since 15 July before leaving on a non-stop flight south on 10 August. The bird flew south over Hudson Bay, crossed the interior of Canada and New England to emerge from the coast of Maine and out over the open ocean. Flying more than 1,600 kilometers (1000 miles) out over the ocean and east of Bermuda, Hope then turned south and is now moving toward the Caribbean. She has already flown non-stop for more than 5,100 kilometers (3,200 miles) but is still 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the nearest land in the Virgin Islands. So far, Hope has been on the wing for 4 days with an average flight speed of 60 kilometers/hour (37 miles/hour).

Hope was originally captured and fitted with a satellite transmitter on 19 May, 2009 while staging on the Delmarva Peninsula of Virginia. She left Virginia on 26 May and flew to the western shore of James Bay in Canada. She staged on James Bay for 3 weeks before flying to the MacKenzie River near Alaska and then on to the Beaufort Sea where she staged for more than 2 weeks before flying back to Hudson Bay. Hope has traveled more than 13,000 kilometers (8,000 miles) since late May.

Hope is one of several birds that have been fitted with state of the art 9.5 gram, satellite transmitters in a collaborative effort by the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary – Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Chapter of the Nature Conservancy to discover migratory routes that connect breeding and winter areas and to identify en route staging areas that are critical to the conservation of this declining species.

Updated tracking maps may be monitored online.


Background

The whimbrel is a large, holarctic, highly migratory shorebird. The North American race includes two disjunct breeding populations both of which winter primarily in Central and South America. The western population breeds in Alaska and the Northwest Territories of Canada. The eastern population breeds south and west of Hudson Bay in Manitoba and Ontario. Both populations are of high conservation concern due to dramatic declines in recent decades.

Satellite tracking represents only one aspect of a broader, integrated investigation of whimbrel migration. During the past 2 years, the Center for Conservation in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has used conventional transmitters to examine stopover duration, conducted aerial surveys to estimate seasonal numbers, collected feather samples to locate summer and winter areas through stable-isotope analysis, and has initiated a whimbrel watch program. Continued research is planned to further link populations across staging, breeding, and wintering areas and to determine the ecological requirements of whimbrels staging along the peninsula.

Tracking map – Map of migration route used by Hope from Southampton Island in upper Hudson Bay to near the Virgin Islands. She has been tracked using a 9.5 gram, solar-powered satellite transmitter.


DOWNLOAD RESOURCES:

  • Press Release as PDF
  • Press Release as Word Doc
  • Image #1 High Resolution

FROM: Center for Conservation Biology, College of William and Mary – Virginia Commonwealth
University The Nature Conservancy, Virginia Chapter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 14 August, 2009

MEDIA CONTACTS: Dr. Bryan D. Watts, Director
Center for Conservation Biology
College of William and Mary
bdwatt@wm.edu
(757) 221-2247

Barry Truitt, Chief Conservation Scientist
The Nature Conservancy
Virginia Coast Reserve Program
btruitt@tnc.org
(757) 442-3049

Share
Center for Conservation Biology
Center for Conservation Biology

Related posts

An adult female osprey on a nest in the York River. The resident pair in this territory arrived in early March and remained on the territory throughout the nesting season. Despite being resident, she never was documented to lay a clutch. The most likely explanation for large numbers of pairs not laying clutches in 2024 is that females did not reach the nutritional condition required to produce eggs. Photo by Bryan Watts.

September 11, 2024

Chesapeake Bay ospreys continue to experience poor breeding performance due to starvation


Read more
Osprey with menhaden

Osprey with menhaden. Due to its high energy density, menhaden is a critical prey item for osprey populations along the Atlantic Coast and within the Chesapeake Bay. Reductions in the availability of menhaden result in a decline in the prominence of menhaden in the diet and related diet quality. Prominence of menhaden in the diet is generally believed to be linked to productivity and population stability. Photo by Bryan Watts.

July 14, 2023

The Center for Conservation Biology documents unprecedented osprey nest failures within the lower Chesapeake Bay


Read more

An adult eagle broods two small eaglets in a nest on Fort Belvoir along the upper Potomac River. On the menu this day was American shad and gray squirrel.

June 30, 2016

Virginia bald eagle breeding population exceeds 1,000 pairs


Read more

Comments are closed.

  • News Room
    • News Stories
    • Press Releases
    • Media Coverage
    • Photo Essays
    • Conservation Stories
    • Blogs
      • EagleTrak Blog
      • Eagle Nest Blog
      • OspreyTrak Blog

News Archives

GET INVOLVED

Join the Nightjar Network or Become an Osprey Watcher Nightjar Network Osprey Watch

READ

 News Stories
 Conservation stories
 Photo essays

Stay Connected

Sign up for the CCB Newsletter:
* = required field

ABOUT US

From the Director
Annual Report
Mission
History
Staff
Contact us

WHAT WE DO

EDUCATION
Students
Internships
Public presentations

RESEARCH
Species of concern
Bird migration
Human impacts
Ecological services
Tracking

RESOURCES

Project Portal
Mapping Portal
Eagle Nest Locator
Publications
The Raven
Baker Library

NEWS ROOM

News Stories
Media Coverage
Press releases
Conservation Stories
Blogs

Give to CCB

GuideStar Logo

The Center for Conservation Biology
©2022 The Center for Conservation Biology