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Sept. 23, 2007 (Autumnal Equinox at 6:50 a.m.) -- Gorgeous morning, Sunny and breezy and warm. I checked Wolfville Harbour this morning (very mediocre high tide was 10:30 a.m., and I was there 45 minutes after that). Roosting along the railroad tracks, east of the pavilion, well camouflaged in the rocks at the water line, were 30 GREATER YELLOWLEGS, 1 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, and 2 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS. Then I drove to Grand Pre -- several large ploughed fields now along the main road across the dykelands -- over the next five days, these fields may get important for shorebirds, since the highest high tides will be reached on Sept. 28th or so. At The Guzzle, I arrived 1.5 hours after high tide. In probably the same spot where John Belbin had been in the fog six days ago, where two fishermen were still trying for striped bass (one tiny one was caught while I watched), there were about 250 ³PEEPS², of which about a third were LEAST SANDPIPERS and two-thirds were SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS; also there was a single DUNLIN (in winter plumage (basic?) with still-visible blackish markings on the belly), and a single SEMIPALMATED PLOVER. For the least vs. semipalmated sandpipers, leg colours were not very useful, since most of the birds were either not standing (lying on their bellies) or behind small rocks, but the bright Sun allowed easy distinction between the brown backs of the leasts and the gray backs of the semipalmated. Also I was at very close distances to these birds with my scope and binocs. When I first arrived at the Guzzle, a large flying flock of PEEPS was flying about, perhaps 2500 birds in all (species undetermined). I did not see where they went, but they probably dispersed to the west. I walked the main dyke, about a 10-minute walk along the newly-topped-with-saltmarsh-mud surface, to the east end of Evangeline Beach where the trees end/start, arriving there at high tide + 2.5 hours, and there were only about 200 PEEPS foraging there. Among them were 25 SANDERLINGS and at least a few dozens of SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS. The excavator with the long reach was parked in the grassy area where the fishers and birders park. Note the saltmarsh ditch that parallels the dyke -- the ditch is the source of the new mud for topping the dyke. Back at The Guzzle at high tide + 3 hours, there were still 4 roosting PEEPS: 2 LEASTS and 2 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS. A single juvenile GREAT BLUE HERON was seen in the saltmarsh. Along the dykes and roads, I saw 2 BLACK SWALLOWTAILS, lots of CABBAGE WHITES, and smaller numbers of SULFURS (clouded?). The top of the dyke had RACCOON tracks, and there were quite a few different PLANTS IN BLOOM: especially attractive were ³LADYıS THUMB², and other flowers included wild radish, red clover, goldenrod species, several asters including many-flowered aster, Queen-Anneıs-lace, yarrow, sow thistle, yellow wild lettuce -- and fruiting were orach and lambıs-quarters.
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