To site partners and friends across the Network,
After two and a half years as WHSRN’s Communications Specialist, I am leaving the WHSRN Executive Office to pursue a graduate degree in shorebird biology. In my time on the WHSRN team, it has been an honor to tell the stories of your work. Whether efforts to engage local communities in citizen science and stewardship, fights to save mudflats rich in biofilm, collaborative approaches to habitat management, or tracking studies uncovering mysteries of migration, your dedication to shorebird conservation has been my constant source of motivation. It was a privilege to work with you to showcase your site’s profiles as we built the new WHSRN website, and to learn what you see as the value of being part of this Network.
Maina watching Whimbrel, Black-necked Stilts, and Western Sandpipers roost on the dykes between salt ponds on the Gulf of Nicoya. Photo: Richard Joyce.
Just in time to celebrate World Curlew Day this month, I am excited to share that I will be joining Dr. Nathan Senner’s Migratory Shorebird Lab at the University of South Carolina to begin a master’s project focused on Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus). I will be working with Dr. Senner and WHSRN partner Felicia Sanders (South Carolina Department of Natural Resources) to study the role nocturnal roost sites play in the stopover ecology and migratory performance of Atlantic flyway Whimbrel. By tracking Whimbrel movements during and after their spring stopover on the coast of South Carolina, we will be investigating how individuals select foraging and roosting sites and working to better understand how those choices influence their entire annual cycle.
Left: The first Whimbrel to arrive at the night roost settle in under the blue light of the new moon. Right: Flocks of Whimbrel stream in to an island where they will roost for the night on the coast of South Carolina. Photos: Maina Handmaker.
As sad as I am to be moving on from WHSRN, I feel lucky to be joining the family of shorebird-ologists – and I look forward to all the chances this will bring to continue collaborating with partners across the Network. Thank you for all the ways you have inspired me in these past few years! Hope to see you at WHSG IX in Puerto Madryn in 2021.
Cover Photo: A Whimbrel waits for high tide to recede in the mangroves of the Cuajiniquil River in northwestern Costa Rica. Photo: Maina Handmaker.
