Sergey Dereliev

An Arctic-breeding wader, nesting in the tundra from Iceland and N Scotland (ssp. islandicus), Scandinavia to western Siberia (ssp. phaeopus), with extra-limital ssp alboaxillaris breeding in the steppes N of the Caspian Sea. Winters along all African and Asian coasts, with a few along the Mediterranean shores. N American breeders considered a separate species, Hudsonian Whimbrel.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendUnknown
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		674000-774000,719000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Whimbrel

Icelandic birds migrate off/along the coast of W Europe, wintering along the W coasts of sub-Saharan Africa (Alves et al. 2016). Scandinavian and Russian birds move SW, then S to West Africa. There is no evidence of age-specific migration strategies, except that juveniles migrate later than adults (Carneiro et al. 2019). Most ringing is on stopovers in W Europe so the final destinations of Scandinavian and Russian birds are unclear, but may include the coasts of Arabia and E Africa. Tracking data shows that all islandicus and many phaeopus undertake a direct flight to the wintering areas (Alves et al. 2016), while in spring most staged - islandicus found mainly in Ireland and Britain with some in France and Spain. Autumn migration is faster than in spring (Carneiro et al. 2019). 

Recoveries by Condition for Whimbrel

Where the species is hunted (Russia, Denmark, France, Spain and also in the Gulf of Guinea) reooveries are mainly of dead birds, while recoveries on the breeding grounds (notably in Iceland) and also in W Africa are mainly of live birds. There is a progressive switch from mainly recoveries of dead birds before 1961 (79%) to 89% being live birds since 1991, largely due to field observations of colour-marked individuals (36%) and tracking (25%) – the latter creating also a large heterogeneity in the annual numbers of recoveries in the 2000s.

Annual Movements for Whimbrel

Most islandicus leave Iceland to fly to W Africa in a single oceanic flight with no stopover. Even juveniles fly nonstop in their first autumn migration. However, some birds migrate to the Atlantic coast of Europe, where they can stop, mostly in Aug. The spring migration is more concentrated, in Apr but generally takes longer on average, with groups stopping  in W Europe before moving to the breeding grounds - as seen form the peak of recoveries during the second half of Apr. The ringing data do not document a possible loop migration for Scandinavian or Russian birds, but the data are mainly driven by the ringing effort in countries of the Atlantic coast.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Whimbrel

Most encounters are of birds breeding in Iceland and islands off Scotland, where birds are present May-Jul. Some birds reach the African wintering grounds in Aug, although others, presumably phaeopus, stage in W Europe, e.g. the Atlantic coast of France. The first adults leave the breeding grounds at the end of Jun mostly Jul, with a peak of encounters during the first week of Aug. Apr records, mainly in France and the British Isles, are islandicus (Gunnarsson & Guðmundsson 2016) but also phaeopus en route to Scandinavia; they stage in S Scandinavia in May and arrive on breeding sites from May. There are few winter recoveries in Europe; most winter encounters are in W Africa (Aug-Apr) - mainly in Senegal and Guinea.

Frédéric Jiguet

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Alves, J., Dias, M., Méndez, V. et al2016 . Very rapid long-distance sea crossing by a migratory bird. Scientific Reports 6 article no.: 38154 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep38154)
Carneiro, C., Gunnarsson, T.G., Alves, J.A.2019 . Why Are Whimbrels Not Advancing Their Arrival Dates Into Iceland? Exploring Seasonal and Sex-Specific Variation in Consistency of Individual Timing During the Annual Cycle. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 7 article no.: 248 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00248)
Carneiro, C., Gunnarsson, T.G., Alves, J.A.2019 . Faster migration in autumn than in spring: seasonal migration patterns and non-breeding distribution of Icelandic whimbrels Numenius phaeopus islandicus. Journal of Avian Biology 50 article no.: 1938 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.01938)
Gunnarsson, T. G. & Guðmundsson, G.2016 . Migration and non-breeding distribution of Icelandic Whimbrels Numenius phaeopus islandicus as revealed by ringing recoveries. Wader Study 123: 44–48

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