While conditions in Delaware Bay may have been a key driver of shorebird population decline (especially for the rufa Red Knot), shorebirds face multiple threats throughout their annual cycle that may impact their population. Identifying and addressing threats to important stopover sites is key to recovering their populations. While considerable attention has been focused on the northward migration stopovers because of their influence on breeding success, there has been far less attention to the southward migration. Shorebirds must make the same long-distance migration and may encounter similar bottlenecks in the need for intense, short-term foraging opportunities. However, little is understood of their use of sites along the whole Atlantic Coast of the U.S. during migration and their full migratory pathways and strategies during south bound flights.
Recent advances in light-weight satellite tracking technology now make it possible to collect high-resolution, three-dimensional movement data of small-bodied shorebirds in offshore environments. Since 2019 our team has been deploying satellite transmitters on shorebirds at various stopovers during their southbound migration. The precision and long-term tracking capabilities of these transmitters provide a new resource for an unbiased assessment of habitat, stopover sites, wintering and breeding areas which will be important data to inform shorebird recovery metrics and protection.