Texas Black-necked Stilts

Anahuac NWR, on the Upper Texas Coast, is my old stomping ground... and now there are almost 200 banded Black-necked Stilts roaming around! Wish I were down there.

 

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Texbirders,

 

Anahuac has been slow but steady through June. Shorebirds have returned, with up to 17 species seen (18 Jun).

 

Highlights include:

 

bronzed cowbird (male) continues by entrance

tropical kingbird, 20 June

red knot on Alice, Jackson, White (closed unit west of Shoveler Pond), 23 June, undergoing extreme wing molt, will post photo to TOS list when have access to my computer.

wood storks (up to 350 on Alice, Jackson, White), viewable at a distance from west side of Shoveler Pond

American avocets (up to 500)

stilt sandpiper, 20 June (early or late?)

 

In addition, ~175 black-necked stilts have been color-banded on Anahuac over the last two years, and capture efforts continue, 250-300 will have been banded by the end of July, please check stilt legs for bands as we have experienced minimal resightings (Thanks Joe Kennedy!). Much of this is due to a large stilt population (>25,000) along the upper coast and inaccessible habitat, but I feel that some of this is just due to people being unaware of our banding operation, please tell others! Many of our radio-marked birds have disappeared to parts unknown/off-refuge. Would greatly appreciate assistance relocating these individuals.

 

Thanks,

 

Thomas Riecke

Chambers County, Texas

13 year old Piping Plover

Via Vince Cavalieri, one of the brains behind this project!

The Great Lakes piping plover population has its own survivor story like B95 (aka moonbird) the red knot.































This is YOGs, currently our oldest known Great Lakes piping plover. In her 13 years, YOGs has flown something like 39,000 miles in migrations, well more than enough to fly completely around the world! Amongst countless predators, storms, human disturbance and many other hazards, this piping plover has survived and been a big part of the the increase in Great Lakes piping plover numbers.

B95 - Red Knot that keeps going

'Moonbird' is a Red Knot that has gotten some great coverage lately, not to mention a whole book!
Latest news is here: B95, the great survivor

Knots face some pretty amazing travel challenges as well as food shortages due to overharvesting of horseshoe crabs - the article above really does a nice job of covering some of those obstacles and outlining why the name 'moonbird' is appropriate. Namely, the distance this bird has traveled between Delaware and Argentina since being banded (as an adult!) in 1995 ...is astronomical.