Bird Braves Irene

A shorebird flies into the teeth of the massive hurricane that hit the US East Coast…and lives to tell about it.

Written byBob Grant

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A whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) though probably not Chinquapin.WIKIMEDIA, ANDREAS TREPTE

As residents clean up from the strong winds and drenching rains brought to the US East Coast by Hurricane Irene this weekend, wildlife biologists are marveling at the tenacity of a small shorebird that flew directly into the storm while migrating from its Arctic feeding grounds to its breeding area in South America.

The bird, a whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) named Chinquapin that had been fitted with radio transmitter as part of an effort to track the migratory patterns of the species, left the Canadian Arctic on Monday (August 22) and flew thousands of miles across the Northeastern US and out to sea before entering Irene's outer bands on Wednesday (August 24), just as the storm—then a category 3 hurricane—lashed the Bahamas. Then the bird disappeared ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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