News Story

July 3, 2019

James River bald eagles reach symbolic milestone of 300 pairs

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247July 3, 2019 The Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William & Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University […]
April 3, 2019
Hope on 26 August 2017 after arriving at Great Pond.

Farewell to Hope

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247April 3, 2019 Hope, the whimbrel that was tracked with a satellite transmitter and became a living representation of […]
April 2, 2019
Whimbrel in flight with transmitter antennae extending beyond the tail.

Seasonal variation in whimbrel mortality

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247April 2, 2019 An alarming percentage of the world’s shorebird species are declining.  Whimbrel populations using the Western Atlantic […]
April 2, 2019
Christmas Bird Count crew pose with a new eagle nest on the north end of Smith island

Beach-nesting eagles

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247April 2, 2019 Sometimes no matter how long you have worked with a species and no matter how wild […]
March 30, 2019
Marian Watts holds a recently-banded chick hatched on the Cobb Island Tower.

Virginia peregrines set record high in 2018

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247March 30, 2019 With 32 occupied territories, Virginia supported the largest breeding population of peregrine falcons ever known to […]
March 30, 2019
Mitchell Byrd with birthday cake in the CCB conference room in August of 2018.

Still flying at 90

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247March 29, 2019 Mitchell Byrd turned 90 in August of 2018, but in early March of 2019 he toed […]
January 17, 2019
Adult white ibis with a brood in Virginia.

White ibis population explodes in Virginia

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247January 17, 2019 Some species creep forward across the landscape.  They fortify their troops and slowly take ground with […]
January 15, 2019

Have you seen me?

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247& Chance Hines | chhines@wm.edu | (757) 221-1696January 15, 2019 The Center for Conservation Biology is asking bird watchers […]
January 15, 2019

Moving Woodpeckers 4

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247January 16, 2019 For the fourth consecutive year, CCB and a multi-state, multi-agency coalition rallied to capture red-cockaded woodpeckers […]
January 14, 2019

Clean blood for eaglets within lower Chesapeake Bay

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247January 14, 2019 Between 2016 and 2018 CCB in partnership with the National Park Service collected blood samples from […]
October 3, 2018

CCB collaborates on study of winter ecology of Ipswich sparrows

By Fletcher Smith | fmsmit@wm.edu | (757) 221-1617 & Sydney Bliss (M.Sc candidate at Dalhousie University) October 3, 2018
October 3, 2018

A heron’s tale

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 October 3, 2018
October 2, 2018

Female peregrines under pressure

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 October 2, 2018
September 26, 2018

Losing ground to sea-level rise

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 September 26, 2018
August 23, 2018

Anhingas march north

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 August 23, 2018
July 17, 2018
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Expedition Chesapeake

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 July 17, 2018 The Chesapeake Bay is one of the largest estuaries in North America and one of […]
July 17, 2018

Up and down year for Virginia woodpeckers

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 July 17, 2018 The 2018 breeding season was a roller coaster for endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers in Virginia.  Moving […]
July 17, 2018

Urban herons hold their own

By Bryan Watts | bdwatt@wm.edu | (757) 221-2247 July 17, 2018 CCB biologists have monitored breeding herons within residential neighborhoods of tidewater Virginia (including the cities […]