GPS tracking provides breathtaking insights into the behavior patterns of migratory birds

Over the past few decades, GPS tracking initiatives have helped scientists better understand the patterns and behaviors of migratory birds. This includes new insights into how populations have adapted and struggled to adapt to the intertwined threats to human development and the climate crisis. This documentary from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in New York documents one such attempt to track the species Numenius phaeopus, or whimbrel, which migrates between southern Canada and South America each year. The project led to a stunning discovery: half of the whimbrel's Atlantic Flyway population, about 20,000 birds, made a small, unique island in South Carolina a stopover on their annual journey north. With visualizations based on GPS tracking data and film images from the island, the short film offers an insightful look at the resilience of these birds, as well as the precarious reality they face due to human development.