Outdoors/Adventure

Soft, piping cry of Bristol Bay whimbrels offers soundtrack to all that is wild

LIBBYVILLE FLAT -- An evening flight of whimbrels streamed by our boat in a long, wide-spread V formation, their high-pitched peeping cry audible as they passed. Four distinct flocks of 50 or more birds made up the entire contingent of birds that call this place on Bristol Bay's lower Kvichak estuary home. The whimbrels were spread enough to make it seem as though there were many more than there actually were.

The entire population of whimbrels in North America probably numbers no more than 100,000 birds. During the summer they are widely scattered along the Alaska coast, with most of the breeders north of the Yukon Delta. Only a few of the Bristol Bay birds nest. These big shorebirds, weighing almost a pound, are part of the non-breeding population that grow fat on Bristol Bay's muddy tidal flats to prepare for their long-distance migration.

Whimbrels, sometimes called Hudsonian curlews, feed mostly on small crabs and other invertebrates that inhabit soft mudflats. The shorebirds' beak is very long, with a downward curve that almost exactly fits the holes of small burrowing crabs. In the fall, whimbrels spend considerable time on the tundra eating berries. In late July, one sees them on the open tundra picking cloudberries.

The birds' long beak makes picking and swallowing difficult. It is entertaining to see them plucking the berries with the tip of their beaks and flipping them up to catch the berry in their throat.

2,500-mile flight

The abundance of the berries' high-quality calories help make it possible for whimbrels to undertake their nonstop migration flight of up to 5,000 miles to winter grounds along the South America coast.

In order to be ready for such a long journey, the youngsters of the year hatch in late June from a green and brown flecked egg. There are commonly four or five chicks per nest. As is the case with other shorebirds, baby whimbrels can run within hours of hatching. They fly within a few weeks.

Whimbrels are protected in North America and the population is relatively stable. They were once hunted heavily in the Lower 48. They fly low and predictably. Now their main predators are glaucous gulls that destroy nests and prey on young chicks.

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In flight, long V's

I have seen kestrels scatter flocks of traveling birds and imagine that they use the whimbrel as a reliable meal. There is a peregrine falcon that nests on the old Nakeen Cannery water tower on the lower Kvichak River that likely takes at least one bird a day from the westside Kvichak population.

Scattered pockets of whimbrels are spread across Alaska. A few nest in the Interior; there is a small population along the Denali Highway. A resident population that lives in the Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge west of the Dalton Highway south of Bettles. These birds eat mostly insects and berries and can be seen perching in the top of black spruce.

I remember seeing the big shorebirds along Potter Marsh when I was a kid and thinking them to be the rarer bristle-thighed curlew. I also thought they looked to be good eating. However, I refrained from pursuing them then and still do today.

My enjoyment comes from seeing the long straggling V's of whimbrels stringing by my boat when the evening tides push them from the mudflats. Their soft piping cry reminds me of all that is wild. When all of us are gone, may the whimbrel still be coursing their way forth and back with the tides.

John Schandelmeier is a lifelong Alaskan who lives with his family near Paxson. He is a Bristol Bay commercial fisherman and two-time winner of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.

Long-distance flyers

These birds make amazing long flights to visit Alaska during the summer.

• Bar-tailed godwit: A prodigious flyer, that has been recorded flying 7,100 miles nonstop in nine days. To prepare, they lard on fat -- up to 55 percent of their body weight.

• Blackpoll warbler: Weighing as much as a 50-cent piece, they fly from Alaska to the forests of Venezuela or Guyana in tropical South America, a journey of some 3,000 miles.

• Arctic tern: Migrate annually from nesting grounds as far north as the Arctic (watch them dive for bait in Westchester Lagoon) to wintering areas in the waters off Antarctica. After scientists fitted terns in Greenland with geolocators, they found their entire roundtrip migration could add up to more than 49,000 miles.

• Sooty shearwater: Scott Shaffer of the University of California, Santa Cruz, attached very small, light-based geolocators to the legs of sooty shearwaters to track their migration -- finding a round trip migration of 40,000 miles. Like terns, shearwaters can rest on the water and catch their food at sea, so they are well equipped to sustain these epic transoceanic journeys.

• Whimbrel: Have been shown to fly up to 5,000 miles from Alaska to South America.

• Ruddy turnstones: After summering in Alaska, they've been recorded flying 3,800 miles nonstop to the Gilbert Islands in the Pacific and from there, 3,100 miles back to Australia.

• Rufous hummingbird: A 3,500 flight between Prince William Sound and Tallahassee, Florida, has been recorded, and is believed to be the longest migration of a hummingbird ever documented.

SOURCES: Alaska Department of Fish and Game, National Geographic, New York Times, Encounters

John Schandelmeier

Outdoor opinion columnist John Schandelmeier is a lifelong Alaskan who lives with his family near Paxson. He is a Bristol Bay commercial fisherman and two-time winner of the Yukon Quest.

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