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| Photographer: Jean Iron |
Whimbrel Watch final total for 2018: 9937; this may deviate slighty from
Tim's final total. This was the 10th watch. FYI: the Whimbrel Watch
was launched in 2009, partnering with the Centre for Conservation
Biology at The College of William and Mary/Virginia, Commonwealth
University (CCB) and The Virginia Coast Reserve of The Nature
Conservancy (TNC) that was conducting long term monitoring and
conservation work with Whimbrel on the Atlantic coast of Virginia. In
2009 CCB and TNC deployed 4 satellite
transmitters and 40 radio transmitters and surveyed the population of
Whimbrel using the seaside marsh ecosystem in Virginia. Data from the
tagged Whimbrel and from aerial surveys has shown that migration and
stop over locations that these birds use are critical to the success of
migration, up to 5000 km each spring. Furthermore, the total numbers
seen on 1st 4 Whimbrel watches totalled 11,701 ... that puts this year's
total of nearly 10,000 in perspective. The previous highest day count
on the Great Lakes Basin is 5000 on 24 May 1992 when the landfill to
create Colonel Samuel Smith Park was still in progress and blocked of to
the public. So at this very location!!! On behalf of Tim we really
thank the birders who came out to help us out this year especially given
the changing and challenging weather conditions more often than not ...
a project like this involves a lot of teamwork. Team effort makes the
difference and what a team we had
