Where Are They Now?
Your favorite fledglings all grown up
They’ve all got one thing in common: they got their start in the Arctic!
Snowy Owl Then:
Snowy Owl Now:
Despite some bad lemming years, Snowy Owl’s rep confirmed that she and her mate for life welcomed an owlet earlier this year. Looks like the midnight sun wasn’t the only thing keeping them up all hours!
Buff-breasted Sandpiper: Then & Now
Once a wee chick bobbling around the tundra with his siblings, Buff invested in some property this past summer in Arctic Refuge in hopes of attracting a mate. “It’s my dance pad.” On finally adulting? “I lek it a lot” he said. Wait, that’s what she said. And then she took what she needed and raised the kids elsewhere.
Where is he now? The lek disbanded (for now) and all the Buffs have flown south. They’ll winter in South America.
Red Phalarope Then:
Red Phalarope Now:
A long way from her downy camouflage beginnings in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Red Phalarope summered in Alaska as breeding adult this year. She’s now off with the whales after a glamorous Siberian tour. Migrating mainly on oceanic routes and wintering at sea on tropical oceans, Red and her friends are making their way via the Chuchki and Bering Seas to somewhere off the coast of South America to spend the winter: a few have been tracked all the way south to the Galapagos in years past.
American Golden-Plover Then:
…and now:
From mottled beginnings to jetting around the world, this plover has seen and been through a lot, including a last minute change in course earlier this month to avoid Hurricane Dorian on his way south:
Each year, these birds fly a large elliptical migration pattern, from the high Arctic (where they are born) to the Caribbean and South America, and back. Their migration south takes them across Arctic Canada followed by a nonstop flight over the Atlantic Ocean. Sometime between late January and the end of April, they fly north to the arctic to breed, but travel through the central portions of South and North America.
Pectoral Sandpiper Then:
And now:
On their tundra breeding grounds, males inflate and deflate an air sac in their breast to create low-pitched hooting sounds. The ladies dig it.
Where are they now? Waaay south.
Want to learn more about the birds that got their start in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? Visit www.arcticbirdfest.com
Katrina Liebich works for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Anchorage, Alaska. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
In Alaska we are shared stewards of world renowned natural resources and our nation’s last true wild places. Our hope is that each generation has the opportunity to live with, live from, discover and enjoy the wildness of this awe-inspiring land and the people who love and depend on it.
