Join BirdNote tomorrow, November 30th!
Illustrator David Sibley and actor H. Jon Benjamin will face off in the bird illustration battle of the century during BirdNote's Year-end Celebration and Auction!
Juvenile Shorebirds Head South
It's a long southbound flight for a young bird!
© Mark Ludwick CC
Like most juvenile shorebirds, this young Black-bellied Plover was abandoned by parents that began their southbound flights from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a few weeks earlier. It will join other young Black-bellied Plovers as they make their way south. This little flock of birds could arrive on the coast of Washington within a few days if they make a direct flight, or within a week or more if they stop at a wetland along the way. Some will stay, but others continue their continent-spanning journey, arriving in coastal Venezuela at the end of December.
BirdNote®
Juvenile Shorebirds -
Young Birds Heading South
Written by Dennis Paulson & Todd Peterson
This is BirdNote!
[Black-bellied Plover call]
This young Black-bellied Plover is about to make its first migratory flight. It was one of four siblings hatched from a nest in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in mid-July, and it’s been able to fly since mid-August. Now in early September, the young plover leaps into the air to begin the long journey south.
[Black-bellied Plover call]
Like most juvenile shorebirds, our migrant was abandoned by parents that began their southbound flights a few weeks earlier. Imagine making a journey of more than a thousand miles with no experienced guides and only the instincts nature provides you. But shorebirds are social birds, so it joins other young Black-bellied Plovers as they make their way south.
[Black-bellied Plover calls]
This little flock of birds could arrive on the coast of Washington within a few days if they make a direct flight, or within a week or more if they stop at a productive wetland along the way. Some will stay for the winter, but others will continue their continent-spanning journey, arriving in coastal Venezuela at the end of December.
Today is World Shorebirds Day. Check out our website for photos and more. That’s BirdNote.org. I’m Michael Stein.
###
Call of the Black-bellied Plover provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by R.C. Stein and R.S. Little.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2011 - 2016 Tune In to Nature.org September 2018 / 2020 / 2023 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# BBPL-02c-2020-9-6 BBPL-02c
Dennis Paulson
Writer
Michael Stein
NarratorSights & Sounds
Related Field Notes
Male Marsh Wrens will build several--as many fifteen--dome shaped shells in the reeds to woo fema
The Osprey is the only North American raptor to eat fish almost exclusively, and it's well adapte