Shorebird scientists will be searching marshes and fields on the Cape next week, looking for juvenile Hudsonian Whimbrels to fit with satellite tags.
Dan Ruthrauff is Senior Shorebird Scientist at Manomet Conservation Sciences. He said the birds are on their way from Arctic breading grounds to South America.
"One of their long migratory stopover legs is staying at the Cape, getting fat, ready for that next move, which invariably for the birds in the Cape is a launch out over the Atlantic Ocean down to South America," he said. "So they'll hang out and eat a lot and put on a lot of fat and get ready for that migration."
Ruthrauff said the young birds were born in the Arctic only about eight weeks ago. Manomet scientists are hoping to track the birds’ first migration. Ruthrauff said knowing where the whimbrels go will help identify crucial habitat for protection.
"Things have changed dramatically for these birds within the last 100, 150 years, and they're just struggling to keep up," he said. "And so we're just trying to make sure that they have, you know, nice safe havens where they can do what they're supposed to do and that we can figure out really what they need, for their populations to rebound."
Ruthrauff said the population has declined about 75% in the past 50 years.
