News Story

September 30, 2020

CCB makes technical reports more accessible

By Bryan Watts9/30/2020 In late 2019, CCB worked with William & Mary’s Swem Library to upload 220 technical reports to Scholarworks in an effort to make […]
September 14, 2020
Beginning of field notes made by Fred Scott on 21 February 1968 describing a bald eagle nest survey

The value of old field notes

By: Bryan Watts9/14/2020 Field notes are like an artist study.  Although they may lead to a published manuscript or report, they provide a more complete view […]
September 3, 2020
American oystercatchers roost during high tide on a shell rake in Virginia.

CCB Launches Shorebird Roost Registry

By Bryan Watts9/3/2020 Communal roosts used at night and during high-tide periods are essential resources for many shorebird species during the winter and migratory periods.  Despite […]
July 7, 2020

Delivering full life cycle conservation for whimbrels

By Bryan Watts7/7/2020 Whimbrels are large, highly migratory Holarctic waders with low reproductive potential and delayed recruitment that require high juvenile and adult survival to sustain […]
July 6, 2020
A dipper foraging in a clear mountain stream in the Black Hills.

The joy of birds

By: Bryan Watts7/6/2020 Many of us feel the constant gravitational pull of wild places or wild things.  Each of us have reasons that are our own.  […]
July 6, 2020
A single eagle nestling stands on an osprey platform

Platform use by nesting eagles

By: Bryan Watts7/6/2020 As with the other sea eagles, bald eagles are tree nesters.  Here in the Chesapeake Bay region eagles nest in loblolly pines on […]
July 6, 2020
Chance Hines pulls young woodpeckers from a cavity

Virginia woodpeckers have record production

By: Chance Hines7/6/2020 The 2020 Virginia red-cockaded woodpecker breeding season has come to a close with a record high number of young produced.  Production of young […]
June 26, 2020

James River eagle population continues to soar while productivity continues to fall

By: Bryan Watts6/26/2020 Upper Chippokes Creek is where bald eagles first recolonized the James River after the peak of the DDT era.  On 19 January 1979, […]
April 4, 2020
Ipswich sparrow on seed heads of American beach grass.

Ipswich Winter Ecology comes into Focus

By: Bryan Watts4/3/2020 There are few things in life more thrilling than solving a good mystery or finding the answers to long held questions.  For the […]
April 3, 2020
10-day-old Chuck-will’s-widow chicks on nest

U.S. Nightjar Survey Network prepares for 2020 Season

By: Laura Duval3/24/2020 As many of you read this, migrant birds, including our beloved nightjars, are on a taxing journey from their wintering grounds as far […]
April 2, 2020
Black Rail on marsh grass.

Rapid Assessment of Black Rails in South Florida

By Bryan Watts4/2/2020 In late February of this year, CCB dispatched a team of five biologists including Marie Pitts, Laura Duval, Chance Hines, Bart Paxton and […]
April 2, 2020
Christian Torres uses a dial caliper to measure the tarsus of a western sandpiper

Building Local Capacity in Panama

By Bryan Watts4/1/2020 For the fifth time in as many years, CCB biologists have traveled to Panama to train local biologists and volunteers on shorebird field […]
April 1, 2020
Social distancing is common within seabird colonies such as those of northern gannets

Social distancing in birds

By Bryan Watts 3/31/2020 One of many things that the Covid-19 pandemic will be remembered for is the introduction of the term “social distancing” to the […]
January 27, 2020
A sleepy, young male woodpecker ready to be placed in an artificial cavity after being translocated

Moving Woodpeckers 5

By Bryan Watts1/26/2020 Chance Hines and I arrived in cluster 13 of Piney Grove Preserve more than an hour before sunset.  We knew the roost cavity […]
January 23, 2020
Double-crested cormorant in the hand.

Counting Cormorants

By Bryan Watts 1/23/2020 The Center for Conservation Biology has joined forces with the North Carolina Wildlife Commission to estimate the number of cormorants that spend […]
January 23, 2020
Whimbrels and scores of other shorebirds that depend on mudflats along the northern coast of Brazil

Oil spill threatens shorebird Mecca

By Bryan Watts 1/22/2020 Since late August 2019 when the first large, black globs of crude oil began washing ashore along the coast of Brazil, the […]
January 21, 2020
Adult female peeks under a beam

Virginia peregrines produce big in 2019

By Bryan Watts 1/21/2020 By any standard 2019 was a good year for peregrine falcons in Virginia.  The breeding season was the most productive in the […]
September 30, 2019
Whimbrel AJK foraging near Santa Anna, Aruba.

Whimbrel AJK returns to Aruba

By Bryan Watts 9/30/19 Many North American residents flee their homes during the cold winter months to spend time in Aruba.  Due to its dry climate […]