Wildlife
I spotted two whimbrels foraging about the Northeast of the rocks this afternoon! Here are some interesting facts about the whimbrel from Cornell’s All About Birds:
- thanks to their curved bills, the etymology of their genus Numenius comes from the Greek for “new moon”
- nesting in the Arctic, Hudsonian whimbrels migrate all the way down to the southernmost coasts of South America, some even managing 4,000km of overwater nonstop flight
During my deep-dive into whimbrel whimsy, I came also upon an interesting new study by researchers at Manomet, part of the International Whimbrel Working Group. While researchers have typically identified two separate populations taking two distinct migratory paths called Flyways either across the Pacific coast or nearer to the Atlantic, one recently tracked bird crossed over from the Atlantic Flyway and headed back south along a Pacific route. The article raises an interesting question that will likely be more common as both habitats and research methods change in our time: “Are the birds behaving in new ways, or are scientists just seeing, for the first time, what their journeys have looked like all along?”
Facility notes
- fixed perimeter fence in a few places where last night’s windstorm pulled out posts. Overall, the PVC system held up well!
- assembled the new battery-pack chainsaw
- made a few more bundles of kindling from stored wood
Weather
What a spectacular day! Intermittent gusts up to 37 knots, smatterings of rain and vibrant rainbows. Temperatures from 10-14 degrees C.
Vessels Observed
Ecotourism: 2