Lesser Yellowlegs location data describing the occurrence of birds within harvest zones in the Caribbean and South America

Shorebirds have experienced a precipitous reduction in abundance over the past four decades. While some threats to shorebirds are widespread (e.g. habitat alteration), others are regional and may affect specific populations. Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) are long-distance migrants that breed across the North American boreal biome and have declined in abundance by 60-80% since the 1970s. The documented harvest of Lesser Yellowlegs in the Caribbean and northeastern South America during southward migration is a possible limiting factor for the species, but it is unknown to what extent birds from different breeding origins may be affected. To address the question of differential occurrence in harvest zones during southward migration, we used PinPoint GPS Argos transmitters to track the southward migrations of 85 adult Lesser Yellowlegs from across the species’ breeding range and 80° of longitude from Anchorage, Alaska, USA to the Mingan Archipelago, Quebec, Canada. We classified migra...