Migration behavior of Veery (Catharus fuscecens)

Principal Investigator(s):

Daniel P. Shustack

Institution:

Environmental Studies Department, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, MA

Project Term:

2017 - 2018

The goal of this project is to understand the migratory behavior of Veery (Catharus virescens) through use of light-level geolocators. Veeries are caught, banded and fit with geolocators. Then, the Veeries are released, allowed to go about normal breeding and migration activity, and then recaptured the following breeding season. The data recorded on the geolocators is used to determine the location and timing of the birds’ movements over the previous year. In 2017, I deployed seven geolocators on Veery in western Massachusetts (Figure 1). I used to Blake-Nuttall award to purchase geolocators for the 2018 field season. During the 2018 field season, we recovered four of the 2017 geolocators and deployed 20 geolocators on Veeries. We will continue our regular active and passive mistnetting in 2019 in order to recover the geolocators deployed in 2018. This report highlights progress on the research objectives and initial results from the four geolocators recovered in 2018. The final report submitted to the Nuttall Ornithological Club in spring 2020 will also include results from geolocators recovered in 2019.

Program Report: Migration Behavior of Veery (Catharus fuscecens)

[flipbook pdf=”https://nuttallclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Migration-Behavior-of-Veery-Catharus-fuscecens.pdf”]

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