Shorebird Research
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With its vast size, numerous huge embayments, and geographic position at a terminus of numerous migration pathways, Alaska is a critically important site for the world’s shorebirds. Thirty-seven shorebird species regularly breed in Alaska, and an additional 36 species have been recorded in the state. These numbers represent nearly a third of the world’s known shorebird species. Most of these species conduct epically long migrations to take advantage of abundant food resources, making Alaska a true global resource for shorebirds. Shorebird research at the Alaska Science Center explores aspects of natural history and assesses the connections between Alaska’s shorebirds and other sites around the world, all with the ultimate intention of helping to inform conservation actions related to this charismatic wildlife resource.
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Bar-tailed godwit "Z0" instrumented with an implanted Argos satellite transmitter (note dorsally exposed antenna) to facilitate aerodynamics during the species non-stop flights across the Pacific Ocean.
(Credit: Daniel Ruthrauff, USGS. Public domain.)
Population Status and Ecology of North Pacific Shorebirds
Research on the population status and ecology of shorebirds in Alaska focuses on identifying critical phases of the annual cycle for these species. Because ninety percent of the migratory shorebird species in the Western Hemisphere have breeding populations in Alaska, our current research necessarily incorporates work that describes migratory routes and connections between Alaska and sites around the globe where these species stopover or spend the nonbreeding season. Such studies require large-scale, collaborative efforts that employ a variety of techniques to gain perspectives appropriate to the scale and range of these highly migratory species. Information from these studies is guiding conservation efforts and helping scientists and conservation groups to better understand the effects of global-scale threats to shorebirds, including habitat modification and degradation, climate change, and the spread of infectious diseases.
Species scientists are working with include:
Bristle-thighed Curlew.
(Credit: Rachel M. Richardson, USGS. Public domain.)
Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)
There are four species of godwits distributed around the world.
Under the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan, they are a species of High Concern mainly due to their small population size, threats to their non-breeding grounds (especially at migratory stopover sites in the Yellow Sea), and their relatively restricted breeding distribution within the United States
Bristle-thighed Curlew (Numenius tahitiensis)
The Bristle-thighed Curlew breeds only in North America. Its adult population numbers about 7,000 individuals, making it the rarest of the New World curlews and godwits.
Due to their small population and threats to their nonbreeding grounds, the Bristle-thighed Curlew is a species of High Concern under the US Shorebird Conservation Plan and a Vulnerable species according to BirdLife International.
The Long-billed Curlew is the largest North American shorebird and is characterized by its long and decurved bill.
(Credit: USGS. Public domain.)
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)
The Long-billed Curlew is the largest shorebird in North America.
Under the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan, they are a species of High Concern mainly due to population declines over parts of their range, their small population size, and threats to their non-breeding and breeding grounds.
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
Whimbrels are similar in plumage but slightly smaller than Bristle-thighed Curlews.
Whimbrel on the tundra on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska.
(Credit: Rachel Richardson, USGS. Public domain.)
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Date published: July 1, 2017Status: CompletedPast Shorebird Research
Below is information on past USGS research projects.
Contacts: Daniel R Ruthrauff, Ph.D., Lee TibbittsAttribution: Alaska Science Center
Alaska Shorebird Conservation Plan, Version III
In recognition of declines among perhaps half of Alaska’s breeding shorebirds, ongoing or emerging threats to shorebirds and their habitats, and considerable knowledge of Alaska’s shorebirds acquired over the past decade, the Alaska Shorebird Group decided that the Alaska Shorebird Conservation Plan was due for updates. Similar to Version II (2008...
Ruthrauff, Daniel R. Testing an attachment method for solar-powered tracking devices on a long-distance migrating shorebird
Small solar-powered satellite transmitters and GPS data loggers enable continuous, multi-year, and global tracking of birds. What is lacking, however, are reliable methods to attach these tracking devices to small migratory birds so that (1) flight performance is not impacted and (2) tags are retained during periods of substantial mass change...
Chan, Ying-Chi; Brugge, Martin; Tibbitts, T. Lee; Dekinga, Anne; Porter, Ron; Klaassen, Raymond H. G.; Piersma, Theunis Annual migratory patterns of long-billed curlews in the American west
Effective conservation of migratory species requires comprehensive knowledge of annual movement patterns. Such information is sparse for the Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus), a North American endemic shorebird of conservation concern. To test hypotheses about individual and area differences in migratory patterns across western North...
Page, Gary W.; Warnock, Nils; Tibbitts, T. Lee; Jorgensen, Dennis; Hartman, C. Alex; Stenzel, Lynne E. Hemispheric-scale wind selection facilitates bar-tailed godwit circum-migration of the Pacific
The annual 29 000 km long migration of the bar-tailed godwit, Limosa lapponica baueri, around the Pacific Ocean traverses what is arguably the most complex and seasonally structured atmospheric setting on Earth. Faced with marked variation in wind regimes and storm conditions across oceanic migration corridors, individuals must make critical...
Gill, Robert E.; Douglas, David C.; Handel, Colleen M.; Tibbitts, T. Lee; Hufford, Gary; Piersma, Theunis Abdominally implanted satellite transmitters affect reproduction and survival rather than migration of large shorebirds
Satellite telemetry has become a common technique to investigate avian life-histories, but whether such tagging will affect fitness is a critical unknown. In this study, we evaluate multi-year effects of implanted transmitters on migratory timing and reproductive performance in shorebirds. Shorebirds increasingly are recognized as good models in...
Hooijmeijer, Jos C. E. W.; Gill, Robert E.; Mulcahy, Daniel M.; Tibbitts, T. Lee; Kentie, Rosemarie; Gerritsen, Gerrit J.; Bruinzeel, Leo W.; Tijssen, David C.; Harwood, Christopher M.; Piersma, Theunis Coping with the cold: An ecological context for the abundance and distribution of rock sandpipers during winter in upper Cook Inlet, Alaska
Shorebirds are conspicuous and abundant at high northern latitudes during spring and summer, but as seasonal conditions deteriorate, few remain during winter. To the best of our knowledge, Cook Inlet, Alaska (60.6˚ N, 151.6˚ W), is the world’s coldest site that regularly supports wintering populations of shorebirds, and it is also the most...
Ruthrauff, Daniel R.; Gill, Robert E.; Tibbitts, T. Lee Ecological correlates of variable organ sizes and fat loads in the most northerly-wintering shorebirds
Shorebirds at northern latitudes during the nonbreeding season typically carry relatively large lipid stores and exhibit an up-regulation of lean tissues associated with digestion and thermogenesis. Intraspecific variation in these tissues across sites primarily reflects differences in environmental conditions. Rock (Calidris ptilocnemis (Coues,...
Ruthrauff, Daniel R.; Dekinga, Anne; Gill, Robert E.; Summers, R.W.; Piersma, Theunis Intercontinental migratory connectivity and population structuring of Dunlins from western Alaska
The Dunlin (Calidris alpina) is a polytypic shorebird with complex patterns of distribution and migration throughout its holarctic range. We analyzed mark-re sighting data obtained between 1977 and 2010 from birds captured at two major staging areas in western Alaska to test the hypothesis that the migration patterns of Alaskan populations are a...
Gill, Robert E.; Handel, Colleen M.; Ruthrauff, Daniel R. Identical metabolic rate and thermal conductance in Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis) subspecies with contrasting nonbreeding life histories
Closely related species or subspecies can exhibit metabolic differences that reflect site-specific environmental conditions. Whether such differences represent fixed traits or flexible adjustments to local conditions, however, is difficult to predict across taxa. The nominate race of Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis) exhibits the most...
Ruthrauff, Daniel R.; Dekinga, Anne; Gill, Robert E.; Piersma, Theunis Residency times and patterns of movement of postbreeding dunlin on a subarctic staging area in Alaska
Understanding how individuals use key resources is critical for effective conservation of a population. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in western Alaska is the most important postbreeding staging area for shorebirds in the subarctic North Pacific, yet little is known about movements of shorebirds there during the postbreeding period. To address...
Warnock, Nils; Handel, Colleen M.; Gill, Robert E.; McCaffery, Brian J. Small population size of Pribilof Rock Sandpipers confirmed through distance-sampling surveys in Alaska
The Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis) is endemic to the Bering Sea region and unique among shorebirds in the North Pacific for wintering at high latitudes. The nominate subspecies, the Pribilof Rock Sandpiper (C. p. ptilocnemis), breeds on four isolated islands in the Bering Sea and appears to spend the winter primarily in Cook Inlet, Alaska....
Ruthrauff, Daniel R.; Tibbitts, T. Lee; Gill, Robert E.; Dementyev, Maksim N.; Handel, Colleen M. Functional ecology of saltglands in shorebirds: Flexible responses to variable environmental conditions
Birds of marine environments have specialized glands to excrete salt, the saltglands. Located on the skull between the eyes, the size of these organs is expected to reflect their demand, which will vary with water turnover rates as a function of environmental (heat load, salinity of prey and drinking water) and organismal (energy demand,...
Gutierrez, J.S.; Dietz, M.W.; Masero, J.A.; Gill, Robert E.; Dekinga, Anne; Battley, Phil F.; Sanchez-Guzman, J. M.; Piersma, Theunis-
Date published: June 1, 2018Satellite Telemetry Data for Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) Captured on the Colville River, Alaska 2010-2011
This data set contains one table of geographic coordinates from a single adult male Whimbrel captured along the Colville River, Alaska, and fitted with an Argos platform terminal transmitter (PTT) satellite transmitter. Location data from the PTT were collected by the CLS Argos system. The data provided one full year of locations from this bird.
Attribution: Alaska Science Center -
Date published: July 1, 2016
Bristle-thighed Curlew Capture Data from James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge, O'ahu, Hawaii, 2012-2014
This data set contains banding, morphology, and satellite telemetry information for Bristle-thighed curlews (Numenius tahitiensis) that were captured between 2012 and 2014 on the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on the island of O'ahu, Hawaii (21.68 N, -157.95 W).
Attribution: Alaska Science Center
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Date published: March 11, 2014"Ultra Marathon Champion" Bird May Plan Flights Based on Weather Across Pacific
A recent U.S. Geological Survey-led study of the bar-tailed godwit, a shorebird known famously as the ultimate marathon champion of bird flight, suggests that these birds can sense broad weather patterns and optimally time their long, nonstop, transoceanic migrations to destinations thousands of miles away.
Attribution: Alaska, Alaska Science Center -
Date published: January 30, 2013Coping with the Cold - How Rock Sandpipers Survive Alaskan Winters
The upper Cook Inlet is the world's coldest site that regularly supports wintering shorebirds. The rock sandpiper is the only shorebird found in this region during winter and is a species that is uniquely adapted to survive the winter chill, according to new research by biologists with the USGS Alaska Science Center.
