Daniel R Ruthrauff, Ph.D. (Former Employee)

A Pacific Golden-Plover in Alaska. Photograph by Daniel R. Ruthrauff, USGS, Public Domain.

USGS collaborator Jesse Conklin (Max Planck Institute) tracks juvenile Bar-tailed Godwits near Nome, Alaska. Researchers tracked birds locally using 0.5-gram VHF radios as part of a study to understand the growth and survival of godwit chicks. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S.

Juvenile bar-tailed godwit B4 with a solar-powered satellite tag near Nome, Alaska. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a study to track the migration of juvenile (hatch year) bar-tailed godwits from breeding sites near Nome, Alaska.

Wing of juvenile bar-tailed godwit "B6" on the Seward Peninsula near Nome, Alaska. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a study to track the migration of juvenile (hatch year) bar-tailed godwits from breeding sites near Nome, Alaska.

Juvenile bar-tailed godwit "B6" after capture on the Seward Peninsula near Nome, Alaska. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a study to track the migration of juvenile (hatch year) bar-tailed godwits from breeding sites near Nome, Alaska.

Juvenile bar-tailed godwit "B6" on the Seward Peninsula near Nome, Alaska. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a study to track the migration of juvenile (hatch year) bar-tailed godwits from breeding sites near Nome, Alaska.

Juvenile bar-tailed godwit "B6" with metal leg band. At this time researchers put a metal band on the chick and glued a small (0.5 gram) VHF transmitter to the bird.

Bar-tailed godwit habitat on the Seward Peninsula near Nome, Alaska. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a study to track the migration of juvenile (hatch year) bar-tailed godwits from breeding sites near Nome, Alaska.

Group of walruses on beach between Hook and Cinder lagoons on the Alaska Peninsula.

Pacific Golden-Plover on the shore near Big Creek, Alaska.

Black-bellied Plover on the mud shore of Big Creek, Alaska.

Pacific Golden-Plover standing on rocks near Big Creek, Alaska.

Semipalmated Sandpiper on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska.

Bristle-thighed Curlew on a fence post on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

Whimbrel chick on the Colville River Delta, Alaska.

Female Bar-tailed Godwit at a breeding site along the Colville River, Alaska. 

Bob Gill, Jr., is holding a Whimbrel equipped with a solar-powered satellite transmitter. The photo was taken along the Colville River near Nuiqsut, Alaska.

Male Bar-tailed Godwit at a breeding site near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. USGS and USFWS recently found ​that almost the entire population of ​Alaska-breeding bar-tailed godwits feed along sand bars near the mouth of the Kuskokwim River in autumn.

Whimbrel nest in the Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge.

Black-capped Chickadee with an elongated and decurved maxilla.