Grey Plover migration update N° 8

Charlie is ahead of the game

In the past few days Charlie has migrated 340km further north. Now Charlie and Nad are both in Bohai Bay, while Charlie is now at a location even further north than Nad, who has been at Bohai for more than 20 days. 

Charlie on the release day in Broome 1. Photo: Nigel Jackett

Charlie on the release day in Broome 2. Photo: Nigel Jackett

It is of interest to compare the migration journey of Nad and Charlie:

	Nad	Charlie
Date of Departing Broome	11th Apr (night)	12th Apr (midnight)
Date arriving China	16th Apr	16th Apr
No. of days spent in 1st stop-over site	2 (inland)	5 (coastal)
No. of days spent in 2nd stop-over site	1 (inland)	4 (coastal)
No. of days spent in 3rd stop-over site	1 (coastal)	3 (coastal)
Date arriving Yellow Sea	23rd Apr	4th May
No. of days spent in 4th stop-over site	21 (coastal)	5 (coastal)
No. of days spent in current location		2 (coastal)
Distance travelled	6,810km	6,720km
Displacement from Broome	6,280km	6,350km

Looks like Nad had used a “quick moving strategy” to get to the Yellow Sea area as soon as possible, while Charlie spent a bit longer time fuelling up before moving to the next stop. We can see although it has taken more time for Charlie to arrive at its current location in Bohai Bay, it has actually travelled shorter distance than Nad but made a greater displacement from their starting point in Broome. Let’s see what their next move will be!

Nad’s and Charlie’s migration routes in China

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 Plovers since departing Broome:

Name	Leg Flag	Distance travelled
Ecosure	LLA	4,650km
Mymi	LLH	4,300km
Nad	LLJ	6,810km
Charlie	LLK	6,720km

The Grey Plover project team:

Katherine Leung

Clive Minton

Ken Gosbell

Chris Hassell

Grace Maglio

Inka Veltheim

Maureen Christie

15 May 2016