Machi getting it’s satellite radio tagA great tragedy has befallen one of the few shorebirds with a personal identity. Machi is a whimbrel made famous for flying through Hurricane Irene. The poor bird left the Atlantic Coast, not knowing of the oncoming hurricane, with a satellite transmitter on it’s back. The transmitter was attached by biologists Bryan Watts and Flecher Smith, of the Center for Conservation Biology at William and Mary, so that they could track Macha’s movements. The bird muscled its way through the tumult at sea, facing headwinds that should have left it weakened and unable to make landfall. The good news is, Machi made it to land . . . . . . .
The satellite track of Machi as it navigated the peril of Hurricane Irene.
The terrible news is that Machi was then killed by a sport hunter in the French overseas département of Guadaloupe in the Caribbean. Unfortunately for this and many other desperate shorebirds, the French government and the residents of these French provinces have not gotten word that shorebirds are protected by most countries of the Western Hemisphere. Last week, we received bad news of a red knot shot in French Guiana rice field by sport hunters. This red knot carried a lime green flag with the letters “PMM” and has a long history of resightings on Delaware Bay (see below) and other locations since 2005. For many of us it is like losing a friend.
The French government sanctions this damaging killing both in France and in their Western Hemisphere protectorates of Guadaloupe, Barbados and French Guiana. What is happening there is not hunting. Hunting, like deer and waterfowl, requires hunters to take responsibility and pay to have a well-organized system for determining if the animal they harvest can be safely taken without damaging the population.
The hunters in French Guiana and Guadaloupe, sanctioned by French law, are killing without any knowledge or responsibility. The birds they are killing are in rapid decline. This carnage should end. 
