Long-billed Curlew Updates

Where are the birds now?

For the past 18 months we have been tracking satellite-tagged Long-billed Curlews in the Western U.S. We are learning about the curlew’s use of different types of landscapes during both the breeding and non-breeding seasons. Birds were captured and tagged on their nests near Boardman, Oregon and the Ruby Valley in Nevada. In the map above, each bird’s cumulative track is represented by different colored dots and lines. Dots represent locations for a particular bird and lines connect successive locations. The numbers and letters refer to the accuracy of the locations (see legend below). After capture, the birds remained on the breeding areas for several weeks before flying south and west to California and Mexico. The curlews settled for the winter in agricultural areas (Central Valley of California, Imperial Valley of Baja California), and coastal wetlands (Baja California, Sonora). Check out the maps showing examples of movements of individual birds on the 'maps' page.

Additional Map Views

• An overview of local movements of 4 birds in the southern California/Mexico area - November, 2007
• An overview of local movements of 3 birds in the Central Valley of California - November, 2007
• An overview of local movements of 5 birds in Ruby Valley, Nevada May - June, 2007

Recent movements of Long-billed Curlews: 4 April 2008

• All birds recently returned to the breeding grounds and are in the vicinity of their nesting sites of last year.
  
• Most birds flew directly from wintering to breeding areas, but Z6 stopped a few times along the way.
  
• Y4 was in the Gulf in Adair Bay, Sonora before his transmitter went off the air 20 January 2008. Scientists are going to revisit his Ruby Valley territory of 2007 to see if he came back to the breeding areas without his transmitter (i.e., if he wiggled out of the leg-loop harness).

Viewing with Google Earth

You need Google Earth installed on your computer to view an interactive file of curlew movements. Click here to get Google Earth free. Click on the movements link below. If Google Earth doesn't automatically open, refer to the instructions at this page.

THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ARE BASED ON PRELIMINARY DATA. THEY ARE NOT FOR USE WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE USGS ALASKA SCIENCE CENTER.

Click the curlew to download the kmz file and view an interactive map

Map Legend
	2 messages only, no accuracy estimation		>1500 m		<350 m
	3 Messages only, no accuracy estimation		<1000 m		<150 m

Click on PRBO's logo to view an additional interactive map.