Satellite telemetry transmitters implanted in Kanuti's Whimbrels (evidenced by external antenna shown here) are revealing some of the mysteries of the birds' southward migration. USGS photo by Dan Ruthrauff. - Photo Credit: n/a

I don't know about you, but I think about the birds in my backyard as "mine." My backyard in this case is Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge in north-central Alaska where I am the bird biologist. Never mind that only about 20 of Kanuti's some 125 regularly occurring bird species actually remain on the refuge year-round. Many species, like the Whimbrel, a large migratory shorebird, visit the refuge only briefly to breed. Does two months out of the year really make it "my" Whimbrel?  Whose bird is it for the remaining 10 months?  And who is really responsible for the conservation of a migratory "species of concern" like the Whimbrel?

This June, Kanuti Refuge partnered with shorebird researchers from the USGS Alaska Science Center in a study designed to look at the southward migration of some of Kanuti's Whimbrels. Fifteen Whimbrels were captured during late incubation (June 8-10), surgically implanted with satellite telemetry transmitters, and fitted with uniquely identifiable colored leg flags. Another six birds were fitted with just the flags. We hoped the transmitters (and possibly, flags) would help us learn where "my" Whimbrels go when they are no longer "mine." Determining where the birds go could really help us identify what places are important to their conservation. While the habitats they use on Kanuti Refuge are regarded as largely intact and secure, other places in their annual life cycle are not necessarily so.

Having arrived at Kanuti likely no earlier than May 4, the first transmittered Whimbrel to depart the refuge "checked in" on June 17 from Selawik Refuge in northwest Alaska. This bird, designated "Double Zero," remained at Kanuti only about 5-6 weeks before then moving to Selawik, where it stayed about two weeks. (Well at least I had it longer than that...but is it really "mine?" ...isn't it "yours" now, Selawik?)  Double Zero then flew to Yukon Delta Refuge. (Okay, now it's "ours!")  But wait, on July 10 it reported flying southeast over the eastern Pacific Ocean, eventually making landfall in Imperial Valley, California, near Sonny Bono Salton Sea Refuge. After at least a week there, Double Zero headed out over the Gulf of California, arriving on the coast of Sinaloa, Mexico (southeast of Mazatlan) on July 23. It has since been there a month. So in the three-plus months after the bird first arrived in "my backyard," Double Zero has seemingly made landfall in no less than three national wildlife refuges, two American states, two countries, and one Mexican state...and it still has nine months to go before it hopefully returns to Kanuti. Maybe it really isn't just "my" bird...

Indeed the nomadic story of Double Zero is not unique; interesting stories continue to evolve for these marked Whimbrels, and Alaska refuges featured prominently as early destinations. Our study showed that Kanuti's transmittered Whimbrels stopped at Selawik (1 individual), Alaska Maritime (2), Yukon Delta (11), Togiak (3), and Becharof (1) refuges. Plus, some birds likely stopped very close to Koyukuk and Alaska Peninsula refuges!

The last of "my" transmittered Whimbrels left Kanuti around July 14 or 15. The first of "your" Whimbrels departed the state on July 9 or 10. About one month later, "our" birds had departed Alaska. At present (August 23), birds are in the Imperial Valley and the Pacific coasts of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

So is calling these birds "mine" misdirected?  It certainly seems so. If possession is nine-tenths of the law, then two-twelfths of the year does not possession make for migratory birds. And given the threats that these migratory birds face during their life cycle, it's probably a good thing that no one refuge, state, country, or perhaps even continent should have to shoulder the entire conservation burden for the species. Whimbrels and other migratory species are a shared resource and so must be their conservation.