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I have been wanting to get out to The Minas Basin all week to see how many peeps are still about, but the tides have not cooperated. Seeing that the high tide was 8.44 at Hantsport this morning I left for the Guzzle even though it was cold and foggy - half way there the sun came out and then the fog rolled right back and got even worse. By the time I had passed Grand Pre I was sure that I was on a useless trip. At the Guzzle at first I could see nothing on the thin strip of beach but the occasional gull, but then one of the "rocks" moved! Swinging up the 12 x 60s I was amazed to see that in huge areas of the beach, 80% of the "rocks" were actually birds. They were all huddled down in great swaths and hardly moving. There were thousands of them, but given the conditions I made no attempt to count them. Almost all were Semipalmated Plovers, there were a few SP Sandpipers and the odd Yellowlegs. Wherever I swung the scope along the beach I could see more birds crouched down in tight groups all facing the same way. Walking about, I almost ran into several small groups of Semipalmated Sandpipers huddled in amongst rocks on the edge of the fields and well away from the water. They let me approach them with no apparent fear. There were several Canada Geese in the salt grass area. In the weedy areas were very large numbers of Savannah Sparrows, active despite the fog and at least 6 Northern Flickers feeding on the ground in the open trail areas. I thought that 3 of the Savannahs might have been Ipswich but who can tell under those conditions? I stayed from 8:15 to about 9:30 and then the fog began to lift. Suddenly all the birds took off in a panic forming a huge cloud which vanished into the fog within a couple of seconds. A mature Bald Eagle flew in and perched on a large rock in the middle of the area the peeps had just fled from. It stayed until it saw me moving in for a better photo and then took off. This was an expensive trip, I discovered that I had lost my cell phone in my wanderings. I went back to the Guzzle at about 10:30 to look for it, and retraced my steps - no cell phone - no peeps and no fog! There was however an immature Bald Eagle and a Northern Harrier, both on the ground and both looking expectant. John Belbin - Hantsport
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