Setophaga striata
Tiny tracking devices confirmed Blackpoll Warblers leaving the northeastern coast of North America for a 2,270β2,770 kilometre nonstop flight over the Atlantic. The crossing takes roughly two and a half to three days.
Blackpoll Warblers connect boreal breeding forests, coastal departure sites, Caribbean landfalls, and Amazonian winter habitat. Protecting only one link cannot protect the journey.
WCS Canada reports that Blackpoll Warblers have declined by more than 90% since 1970, with habitat loss, pesticides, cats, and building collisions among the pressures affecting boreal birds.
See the fieldwork, meet the researchers, or support bird science.
See WCS Canada's boreal bird work βLinks go directly to conservation organizations.Tiny loggers confirmed the open-ocean route.
Researchers fitted Blackpoll Warblers with tiny geolocators, then recaptured five birds after migration to reconstruct their routes.
That sample directly confirmed a flight long inferred from weather radar and physiology: an open-ocean crossing with no place to stop.
Open the Royal Society study β