22 April 2024.
TL;DR: young birds tagged in Louisiana this winter keep moving north, adults are stationary; 3 birds tagged in West Virginia in spring 2023 checked in, two are demonstrating high breeding site fidelity.
A lot of check-ins and movements to report this week, including 3 birds from our 2023 captures in West Virginia! This update is a doozy:
– WV-2023-06, an adult male that summered in West Virginia, checked in from southeast Virginia in February. We expect to receive further data from him soon!
– WV-2023-20, an adult female that summered in Petroglyphs Provincial Park in Ontario spent her winter in Florida (what a smart bird!), and has returned to exactly the same site in Ontario as of April 15! That’s some strong breeding site fidelity!
– WV-2023-23, an adult female who spent summer 2023 in Pennsylvania, wintered in northeast North Carolina, and by April 15 had returned to within 50km of her West Virginia capture site.
Our young Louisiana birds made further moves north last week:
​- LA-2024-34 kept up her northward movements from last week, making it almost to Duluth, Minnesota by 4/21.
– In contrast, young male LA-2024-49 left Minnesota for the land of even MORE lakes, ending up in Manitoba, in between Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipeg, and Lake Winnipegosis.
– LA-2024-43, a young male who spent 5+ weeks in southern Ohio, made a move northWEST, to the western lower peninsula of Michigan.
– In contrast, young male LA-2024-39 left the northeast corner of the lower peninsula of Michigan, presumably flying across Lake Huron to arrive in central Ontario.
– LA-2024-66, a young female, moved north from her 2 week stay in Pennsylvania to southern Quebec.
Other Louisiana birds are currently stationary in West Virginia, Ohio, Manitoba, Michigan, Ontario, and Maine.
We hope to hear from additional 2023-tagged birds in the next few weeks, stay tuned!
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