Synopsis:

In May 2019, a biologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources made a monumental discovery: 20,000 Whimbrel (a threatened and rapidly declining migratory shorebird) roosting together in a single flock on Deveaux Bank: a treeless sandbar 20 miles south of Charleston. This spectacle—a flock representing half of the species’ entire Atlantic Flyway population—was hiding in plain sight, gathered each night during Spring migration. Dr. J. Drew Lanham gives his perspective on this monumental discovery.