Australia Wader Study Group Grey Plover update: Grey Plovers Check-in at the Arctic Circle!

Nad and Charlie are both in the Arctic Circle!

Nad’s and Charlie’s migration route to the Arctic Circle

Nad has made an additional 2,690km flight in the past 2 days reaching the North-east part of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic in Russia. It has been travelling quite fast with average speed of 52kph which could possibly as a result of favourable wind direction.

Nad’s landing location in the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, Russia

A closer look at Nad’s landing location suggests that it is an area with streams leading from mountains in the west to a main river in the east.

On the other hand, Charlie has made another 600km move over the past 48 hours and landed in an area surrounded by lakes.

Charlie’s landing location

We are yet to know whether these 2 locations are Nad’s and Charlie’s final breeding site. In the coming days when we have received enough data to observe their “local movement” patterns, we’ll then be able to confirm whether they are nesting or not.

The migration route of our birds is shown in the map below:

Ecosure (white), Mymi (red), Nad (blue) and Charlie (orange)

Distance travelled by our Grey Plover since departing Broome:

Name	Leg Flag	Distance travelled
Ecosure	LLA	4,650km
Mymi	LLH	4,300km
Nad	LLJ	10,325km
Charlie	LLK	10,405km

The Grey Plover project team:

Katherine Leung

Clive Minton

Ken Gosbell

Chris Hassell

Grace Maglio

Inka Veltheim

Maureen Christie

30 May 2016