First Little Curlew arrives on the breeding grounds.

Inka Veltheim's latest news about the Little Curlews:

The first of the Little Curlews carrying a transmitter has arrived at the species' known breeding grounds in Siberia, Russia. This really is quite exciting. This bird has travelled just shy of 10,000 km between its non-breeding grounds in Australia and its breeding grounds in Russia, all within one month.

Bird 131945 (BD), which left Roebuck Bay around the 22nd of April has last transmitted today (25th May) near the Moyero and Olenek Rivers, in the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. The species was first recorded breeding here in 1874 and it is quite remarkable that one of the birds carrying a satellite transmitter has made it there. I have included a link to a website (in Russian) that shows the Little Curlew breeding areas in Sakha (Yakutia): http://sakha.gov.ru/node/5618. 131945 (BD) is in the furthest west of the marked areas. 

Little Curlew 131943 (BC) is still on the island of Lombok in Indonesia. It is moving around, so it will be interestingto see whether it returns to Australia or moves north. Literature suggests arrival of this species at breeding grounds at the end of May, so it may be too late for this bird to continue its migration. 

There has been no change in the location of 131947 (BC) since last update. We are currently waiting for another transmission for this bird and hoping that it also continues to the Siberian breeding areas.