{"id":94380,"date":"2024-04-17T14:13:20","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T14:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=94380"},"modified":"2024-05-13T13:21:18","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T13:21:18","slug":"uri-led-team-finds-direct-evidence-of-itinerant-breeding-in-east-coast-shorebird-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2024\/04\/uri-led-team-finds-direct-evidence-of-itinerant-breeding-in-east-coast-shorebird-species\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站-led team finds direct evidence of \u2018itinerant breeding\u2019 in East Coast shorebird species"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 17, 2024 \u2013 Migration and reproduction are two of the most demanding events in a bird\u2019s annual cycle, so much so that the vast majority of migratory birds separate the two tasks into different times of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a study by 溏心vlog免费B站 researchers has found direct evidence of a species \u2013 the American woodcock, a migratory shorebird from eastern and central North America \u2013 that overlaps periods of migration and reproduction, a rare breeding strategy known as \u201citinerant breeding.\u201d Their work, backed by collaborators across the East Coast, was published today in the biological sciences journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Slezak holds an American woodcock chick at the Arcadia Management Area in Exeter, Rhode Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think this is a very exciting moment for bird researchers,\u201d said Colby Slezak, a 溏心vlog免费B站 Ph.D. student in biological and environmental sciences who led the study. \u201cIt\u2019s interesting to see that these distinct periods in a bird\u2019s annual cycle are not so cut and dried. We often think of migration, breeding, fall migration and wintering as separate events. But woodcock are combining two of these into one period, which is interesting because both are so energetically expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach year the period of migration is distinct from the period of breeding in the vast majority of migratory birds, presumably because doing so at the same time is simply too costly,\u201d said Scott McWilliams, 溏心vlog免费B站 professor in natural resources science and principal investigator on the study. \u201cThis paper provides the best documented case of a migratory bird that is an itinerant breeder. Such itinerant breeding is exceptionally rare, and documenting exceptions often proves the rules of nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An American woodcock, tagged with an GPS transmitter, sits on her nest in Saint-Augustin, Qu\u00e9bec, Canada, as a study collaborator verifies the nest. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The American woodcock \u2013 also called a timberdoodle, bogsucker, night partridge, and Labrador twister, among many more \u2013 is a migratory shorebird that occurs throughout eastern and central North America but its populations have been declining over the past half century. The species is known for its long, needlelike bill that can extract earthworms from deep in the ground and the males\u2019 elaborate mating dance and \u201cpeent\u201d call to attract females, Slezak said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there are about a dozen bird species in the world believed to be itinerant breeders, the study is the first to show direct evidence of the rare strategy. \u201cThey\u2019ve suspected other species of being itinerant breeders, but this is the first time we\u2019ve had detailed GPS-tracking data and on-the-ground verification of nests to confirm that this was happening.\u201d said Slezak, of Broadalbin, New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do that, the study benefitted from the work of scores of biologists from federal, state and non-governmental agencies along the American woodcock\u2019s flyway, from the southern U.S. into Canada, who tagged more than 350 females with GPS transmitters between 2019 and 2022. That initiative was part of the University of Maine\u2019s Eastern Woodcock Migration Research Cooperative<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n