Nano-tagging Shorebirds - page 3 of 6

Nano-tags were assigned to 5 priority species: Semipalmated Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Dunlin, Hudsonian Godwit and Red Knot. Above, 3 August, Ross Wood attached a white nano-tag and antennae to the lower back of a White-rumped Sandpiper. Nano-tags are tiny and their signals can be received within a 15-20 km radius of a tower. Each tag has a different frequency. There are several towers along southern James Bay and more along Lakes Ontario and Erie, St. Lawrence River, East Coast and more, which will pick up the signal and record a bird's migration. Nano-tags were first placed on James Bay shorebirds in 2014, and provided new information about length of stay on James Bay, timing and migration routes to the wintering grounds.

Semipalmated Sandpiper with a white flag indicates it was banded in Canada. Each flag with its unique alpha-numeric code may be spotted by birders and researchers, and provides valuable information about migration routes, staging and wintering areas.

Jacqueline assists Ross with the application of adhesive to the plastic white flag.

Ross and Lizzie weigh each bird.

Theo recorded the data for each bird.

Motus tracking tower near camp on ridge about 1.5 km from coast. With a radius of 15 to 20 km it tracks shorebirds with nano-tags. The tower also has a weather station recording temperature, pressure, wind, precipitation and more, all things that just a few years ago were done manually.

See 2014 movements of nano-tagged White-rumped and Semipalmated Sandpipers here: www.motus.org click on explore data - view tracks. One map for White-rumped Sandpipers and Semipalmated Sandpipers during their 2014 fall migration between James Bay stopover sites and the East Coast, another for Red Knots moving from the East Coast to Hudson Bay coast and Nunavut during the spring migration and coming back during the fall migration. Also One-night migratory flight of  White-rumped, Semipalmated Sandpipers and Red Knots from James Bay in 2015. See also map of receiver tower locations: http://motus.org/data/receiversMap.jsp  Stu Mackenzie provided this info.

Nets were closed at high tide.

Now go to James Bay Sparrows - Page 4