MAINE MORNING STAR • February 14, 2026
It may be the most enduring love story in the shorebird world, two birds coming together from different parts of the hemisphere. Hudsonian Whimbrels are famously faithful, often mating for life and returning each May and June to the same stretch of Arctic tundra to breed. What is also noteworthy is that the love story pairs with one of the most astonishing migrations in the natural world. The whimbrel is a striking, long-legged shorebird with a graceful down-curved bill, traveling up to 9,000 miles each year from the high Arctic to the coasts of South America. What makes this story urgent is that the whimbrel is disappearing. Once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, populations have declined by as much as 70% over the past two decades due to habitat loss, climate change and disruptions along the very migratory routes they have followed for millennia.