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 Tibbitts
Factors promoting the recolonization of Oahu, Hawaii, by Bristle-thighed Curlews
Suitable habitat for Arctic-breeding migratory shorebirds is decreasing at their traditional wintering islands and atolls in the Central Pacific Flyway (i.e., Oceania) due to habitat degradation, reclamation, and sea-level rise. To maintain the size and resiliency of their populations, migratory shorebirds will need to expand their winter ranges...
Tibbitts, Lee; Ruthrauff, Daniel R.; Underwood, Jared G.; Patil, Vijay P. 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. Inventory of lowland-breeding birds on the Alaska Peninsula
We conducted the first systematic inventory of birds in the lowlands (areas ≤100 m above sea level) of the Alaska Peninsula during summers of 2004–2007 to determine their breeding distributions and habitat associations in this remote region. Using a stratified random survey design, we allocated sample plots by elevation and land cover with a...
Savage, Susan E.; Tibbitts, Lee; Sesser, Kristin; Kaler, Robb S.A. Fuelling conditions at staging sites can mitigate Arctic warming effects in a migratory bird
Under climate warming, migratory birds should align reproduction dates with advancing plant and arthropod phenology. To arrive on the breeding grounds earlier, migrants may speed up spring migration by curtailing the time spent en route, possibly at the cost of decreased survival rates. Based on a decades-long series of observations along an...
Rakhimberdiev, Eldar; Duijns, Sjoerd; Karagicheva, Julia; Camphuysen, Cornelis J.; Dekinga, Anne; Dekker, Rob; Gavrilov, Anatoly; ten Horn, Job; Jukema, Joop; Saveliev, Anatoly; Soloviev, Mikhail; Tibbitts, Lee; van Gils, Jan A.; Piersma, Theunis; Castricum, VRS Trends and traditions: Overview and synthesis
This paper provides an overview by the editors of a collection of 25 papers for the Studies of Western Birds, to be published in a single volume by Western Field Ornithologists. The title of the volume is: "Trends and traditions: Avifaunal change in western North America."
Shuford, W David; Gill, Robert E.; Handel, Colleen M. Unusual foraging observations associated with seabird die-offs in Alaska
We report the first documentation of off-water foraging by the Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma furcata and Short-tailed Shearwater Ardenna tenuirostris, a behavior not previously documented in any member of the families Hydrobatidae or Procellariidae. Over a two-week period in September 2016, we regularly observed individuals of these species...
Robinson, Bryce; DeCicco, Lucas H.; Johnson, James A.; Ruthrauff, Daniel R. Shorebirds adjust spring arrival schedules with variable environmental conditions: Four decades of assessment on the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska
Arctic summers are brief, and there has been strong selection for migratory birds to arrive in Arctic nesting areas as early as possible to time breeding with peak food availability and complete reproduction. The timing of emergence of nesting habitat in spring is, however, extremely variable in the Arctic, and few long-term studies have examined...
Shuford, W. David; Gill, Robert E.; Handel, Colleen M.; Ely, Craig R.; McCaffery, Brian; Gill, Robert E. 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 Spatial genetic structure of bristle-thighed curlews (Numenius tahitiensis): Breeding area differentiation not reflected on the non-breeding grounds
Migratory birds occupy geographically and ecologically disparate areas during their annual cycle with conditions on breeding and non-breeding grounds playing separate and important roles in population dynamics. We used data from nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA control region loci to assess the breeding and non-breeding spatial genetic...
Sonsthagen, Sarah A.; Tibbitts, T. Lee; Gill, Robert E.; Williams, Ian S.; Talbot, Sandra L. 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-
Date published: September 23, 2019Data from Bristle-Thighed Curlews at James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge, O'ahu, Hawaii, 2012-2014
This data package includes two tables of data for Bristle-thighed curlews (Numenius tahitiensis) captured 2012-2014 on the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge O'ahu, Hawaii (21.68 N, 157.95 W). One table provides capture, banding, morphology, and genetic data. The second table provides mark-resight data for estimating the size of the wintering population on Oahu in April of 2014.
Attribution: States and Territories, Alaska Science Center -
Date published: August 26, 2019
Bristle-Thighed Curlew (Numenius tahitiensis) Mark-Resight Encounter History from the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge and Surrounding Area, Oahu, Hawaii, 2012-2017
This data set contains one table with mark-resight observations of Bristle-thighed Curlews marked on Oahu, Hawaii, with plastic color leg flags, 2012-2017.
Attribution: States and Territories, Alaska Science Center -
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
Bristle-thighed Curlew in Alaska
A Bristle-thighed Curlew on the tundra. This photo was taken during the Changing Arctic Ecosystems Boreal-Arctic Transition program.
Grazed grasses in coastal dunes at Makahoa Point on Oahu, Hawaii
Grazed grasses interspersed with low shrubs in coastal dunes at Makahoa Point east of the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge (JCNWR) on Oahu, Hawaii.
Curlews perching on the predator fence in the Ki’i Unit
Bristle-thighed Curlews perching on the predator fence in the Ki’i Unit of the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge, Oahu, Hawaii
Mowed grasses in coastal dunes of the Ki’i Unit on Oahu, Hawaii
Mowed grasses interspersed with low shrubs in coastal dunes of the Ki’i Unit in James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu, Hawaii
Ephemeral wet meadow in the Punamano Unit on Oahu, Hawaii
Ephemeral wet meadow surrounded by mowed vegetation in the Punamano Unit of the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu, Hawaii
Curlews loafing on the largest mowed dike in the Ki’i Unit
Bristle-thighed Curlews on the largest mowed dike in the Ki’i Unit in James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu, Hawaii
Curlews on small island in shallow ponds of the Ki’i Unit
Bristle-thighed Curlews on small island in shallow ponds of the Ki’i Unit of the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu, Hawaii.
Bristle-thighed Curlew on a fence post on the island of Oahu, Hawaii
Bristle-thighed Curlew on a fence post on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
Shallow ponds, mowed dike in the Ki’i Unit, Oahu, Hawaii
Shallow ponds and mowed dike in the Ki’i Unit. Habitats and areas used by Bristle-thighed Curlews in the Ki’i Unit of the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu, Hawaii.
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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.
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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.
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, States and Territories