Page 32 - Canadian Geographic

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C
O
Y
OGRAPHY
EXPLORING CARTOGRAPHY Russia to East Africa
EXPLORING CARTO

Travel west through

Route revisions
Non-stop flight (2,000 km)
Non-stop f fl light (2,000 km)
New bird-tracking technologies are leading to startling k
discoveries and helping revise migration pathways op flight (2,000 k 2,0 2,0 2 (2 2 (2 (2 (2 2 2
BY BRIAN BANKS f fli ig f i Wilson’s warbler
Whimbrel western populaton
It’s been a mystery since the study of bird migrations began: while scientists Whimbrels were among the first
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: JOE AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; ETHAN MELEG; GERALD A. DEBOER/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: RICK & NORA BOWERS/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS;
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: JOE AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; ETHAN MELEG; GERALD A. DEBOER/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: RICK & NORA BOWERS/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS;
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: JOE AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; ETHAN MELEG; GERALD A. DEBOER/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: RICK & NORA BOWERS/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS;
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: JOE AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; ETHAN MELEG; GERALD A. DEBOER/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: RICK & NORA BOWERS/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS;
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: JOE AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; ETHAN MELEG; GERALD A. DEBOER/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: RICK & NORA BOWERS/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS;
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: JOE AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; ETHAN MELEG; GERALD A. DEBOER/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: RICK & NORA BOWERS/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS;
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: JOE AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; ETHAN MELEG; GERALD A. DEBOER/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: RICK & NORA BOWERS/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS;
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: JOE AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; ETHAN MELEG; GERALD A. DEBOER/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: RICK & NORA BOWERS/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS;
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: JOE AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; ETHAN MELEG; GERALD A. DEBOER/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: RICK & NORA BOWERS/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS;
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: JOE AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; ETHAN MELEG; GERALD A. DEBOER/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: RICK & NORA BOWERS/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS;
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: JOE AUSTIN PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; ETHAN MELEG; GERALD A. DEBOER/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM LEFT: RICK & NORA BOWERS/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS;
understand a great deal about where birds breed, they know less about where birds to show the power of migratory
they spend other times and, sometimes, nothing about their travel routes. tracking technology. In 2008 and
I I Over the last decade, though, researchers have started unlocking many again in 2012, whimbrels fi tted with
of these unknowns using an array of evolving tracking technologies. The satellite transmitter tags were
result: a stream of revelations about migratory birds’ journeys, their tracked continuously between
capabilities and critical destinations and hazards en route — essential summer breeding grounds in Alaska
information for conservation work. and the Northwest Territories and
“There are some surprising findings,” says Darroch Whitaker, an wintering sites in Brazil. Often, the
ecosystem scientist with Parks Canada, in Rocky Harbour, N.L. “A lot of birds spent days aloft. Non s
n
on
n
these birds are making astonishing non-stop movements.”
Take Connecticut and blackpoll warblers, combined as one of six f
g
g
examples of such discoveries depicted on this map. These small songbirds, Non-stop flight (2,800 km)
p fligh
f fl gh
RANDY MEHOVES/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; SEVENTHDAYPHOTOGRAPHY/ISTOCK; MORTEZA NEMATI/SHUTTERSTOCK; MAP: CHRIS BRACKLEY/CAN GEO
RANDY MEHOVES/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; SEVENTHDAYPHOTOGRAPHY/ISTOCK; MORTEZA NEMATI/SHUTTERSTOCK; MAP: CHRIS BRACKLEY/CAN GEO
RANDY MEHOVES/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; SEVENTHDAYPHOTOGRAPHY/ISTOCK; MORTEZA NEMATI/SHUTTERSTOCK; MAP: CHRIS BRACKLEY/CAN GEO
RANDY MEHOVES/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; SEVENTHDAYPHOTOGRAPHY/ISTOCK; MORTEZA NEMATI/SHUTTERSTOCK; MAP: CHRIS BRACKLEY/CAN GEO
RANDY MEHOVES/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; SEVENTHDAYPHOTOGRAPHY/ISTOCK; MORTEZA NEMATI/SHUTTERSTOCK; MAP: CHRIS BRACKLEY/CAN GEO
RANDY MEHOVES/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; SEVENTHDAYPHOTOGRAPHY/ISTOCK; MORTEZA NEMATI/SHUTTERSTOCK; MAP: CHRIS BRACKLEY/CAN GEO
RANDY MEHOVES/ALAMY/ALL CANADA PHOTOS; SEVENTHDAYPHOTOGRAPHY/ISTOCK; MORTEZA NEMATI/SHUTTERSTOCK; MAP: CHRIS BRACKLEY/CAN GEO
(
which weigh about as much as a triple-A battery, spend summer in Canada’s (2 800 km)
boreal forest and winter in South America. But in 2014 and 2016, researchers 800 km)
found that instead of fl ying south over land in the fall, they undertake a
Non-stop f fl light (2,800 km)
non-stop transatlantic marathon — upward of 2,500 kilometres — from
the East Coast of the United States to various Caribbean islands before
reaching their fi nal destination. Wilson’s warbler
These conclusions emerge from light-sensing geolocators attached to There are five known breeding
the birds, one of the few devices small enough to be carried by birds this regions for this species in Canada,
size. There are similar lightweight tags that record a bird’s GPS coordinates and birds born in each carry
at pre-set intervals. Birds must be recaptured to collect this data. distinctive genetic markers. In
Other sensors, however, supply data that can be downloaded remotely, 2014, scientists used DNA to
sometimes in real time. For example, slightly larger GPS tags can send match birds in various wintering
location information when they’re in range of a receiver. Others link directly areas in Mexico to their areas
to satellites. Scientists using a third option, the Canadian-created Motus of origin.
tracking system, fi t birds with tiny nanotag transmitters that emit a radio
Linked
signal detected by more than 350 ground-based tracking stations throughout wintering
area
North and South America whenever a tagged bird passes nearby.
As the accompanying examples show, all of these methods — coupled
with breakthroughs in DNA and isotope analysis that further pinpoint
individual bird origins — are yielding remarkable results.
“Migratory birds have always faced dangerous and daunting journeys,
but human impacts have made such marathon flights all the more
amazing,” says Bridget Stutchbury, a biology professor and Canada research Grey-cheeked thrush
chair in ecology and conservation biology at Toronto’s York University. “New In 2015 and 2016, dozens of these boreal breeders were
technologies are important for advancing basic migration science, but also tagged with tiny radio transmitters at overwintering grounds
in Colombia. Researchers then logged segments of their
give us hope that population declines may someday be reversed.”
springtime moves north with the Motus tracking system,
revealing links between migration speeds — the fastest bird
Check out a mesmerizing animated map of a year of bird migrations in North went 3,200 kilometres in a little more than three days, while
America at cangeo.ca/ma18/migration. some took weeks — and fuel availability at stopover sites.