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--Boundary_(ID_r1O95CFtfTgPzFZ+miCi7g) Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT AUG. 16, 2011 - Janet & John Foster are in our area now, after shooting some good high-definition video of migrant shorebirds in New Brunswick at Mary's Point and then Johnson's Mills in upper Chignecto Bay of the Fundy ecosystem. Apparently at Mary's Point (sw. of Moncton) they were there at the perfect time to see about 70,000 shorebirds, more than they have had there in a long time. And then big numbers of 100,000+ shorebirds at Johnson's Mills (west of Sackville) for two days. Now they want to look for more footage of the shorebirds and of their food, mud shrimps etc., here in the Grand Pre area. Today's daytime high tide was at 3:13 p.m. and 12.5 metres of amplitude (mediocre). The Fosters wanted me to show them some sandpiper food, especially mud shrimp or Corophium volutator out on the mudflats; however, we were too late in starting, so we will try that tomorrow. Thus i gave them a "nickel tour" of some of my favourite local spots for the shorebirds from just before to after high tide. We started at Evangeline Beach at the canteen/parking lot area, and we got lucky just like Gary Murray did two days ago at the same time and place. We found a nice large flock we guessed at 10,000 peeps (but possibly twice as many), just below and slightly west of the canteen on the rapidly disappearing upper beach as the tide came in. This flock was almost totally semipalmated sandpipers, with just a few white- rumped sandpipers among them. They were quite close to us, and we were viewing them by looking downward at a steep angle. There was nobody on the beach to disturb them, but they were very restless with Zugunruhe, often taking off noisily as a big flock or as smaller groups, then flying off over the water, back and forth, only to circle back and land among the same birds or in the same area as they left. This all took a long time, and the upper beach gradually disappeared, causing the peeps to all take off and fly back and forth, with splitting and rejoining over the water, and eventually flying away and out of sight toward the east (the usual pattern before high tide. We also had a sudden appearance of a peregrine falcon flying low and from the west, right past the flushed sandpipers but not chasing any, and out of sight to the east. Once all the shorebirds were gone, I showed the Fosters the nice signage on the birds and their foods and ecosystem here, along with nice maps and photos showing the nesting range in the North and the migration arrows to northern South America (Suriname), which is about 5000 km. away and takes 2-3 days and nights of non-stop flying to reach. This is why each peep doubles its weight during its 7-10 days or so of feeding in the Upper Bay of Fundy (here). The signage is at the shorebird viewing platform on the north edge of the canteen parking lot. It was still about 1.5 hours before high tide when we next drove to Avonport, where along Bluff Road I showed them Avonport Beach and Penny Beach, where good numbers of flying flocks can be seen at high tide and later. John spotted an osprey, which is a very unusual sight in our area of The Valley, and it flew right over our car. And I mentioned that in years past a good spot for roosting sandpipers was Blue Beach, just east and south from Horton Bluff. We drove there, parked in the lot near the Fossil Museum, and then walked down to the beach, where there were 6-8 fishers for striped bass (we saw 3 small non-keepers caught by one fisher during the hour we were there). There at Blue Beach we were delighted to discover another? big restless flock of about 10,000 (or many more?) sandpipers that were flying a lot and then landing and roosting for short periods on the shingle beach on both sides of a narrow wedge of water. Again these were 99% semipalmated sandpipers, as at Evangeline Beach, and I think there's a good chance this was the same flock we had watched back there. Interestingly, John Foster spotted some peeps up high on the hillside that slopes down to the beach; these were 21 semipalmated plovers with about 4 semipalmated sandpipers. They had found a very restful location, unlikely to be disturbed. The fishers didn't bother the birds at all, except when one of the fishers relocated by walking through the big flock, which flew off but then quickly resettled after he walked by. Later one couple of recreating humans arrived with their unleashed two Labrador retrievers, which were no problem for the birds. But probably on weekends the birds have a harder time finding places to rest during the high-tide period? (since recreators would then be much more numerous, with both dogs and restless children?). I lost track of the times, as we watched those roosting peeps. At one point about 3/4 of them flew off and over the water, and, after circling back and forth several times as if undecided (but probably just restless?), this big flock flew off to the west and out of sight (probably to the east end of Evangeline Beach?). And the rest settled into a long deep rest on the shingle beach until we left them, about an hour after high tide. One more point: at one point while Janet and John were filming, I scanned the water of the Minas Basin with binoculars, and I found 2 sizable flying flocks of small shorebirds or peeps, flying probably from the Noel Shore somewhere to the north and toward the west and out of sight, perhaps again heading for east Evangeline Beach? (or perhaps further west to other mudflats or the mouth of the Cornwallis River?). ----------------------------- Cheers from Jim in Wolfville. --Boundary_(ID_r1O95CFtfTgPzFZ+miCi7g) Content-type: text/html; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable <html><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>AUG. = 16, 2011 - Janet & John Foster </b>are in our area now, after = shooting some good high-definition video of migrant <b>shorebirds</b> in = New Brunswick at Mary's Point and then Johnson's Mills in upper = Chignecto Bay of the Fundy ecosystem. Apparently at <b>Mary's = Point </b>(sw. of Moncton) they were there at the perfect time to see = about 70,000 shorebirds, more than they have had there in a long = time. And then big numbers of 100,000+ shorebirds at<b> Johnson's = Mills</b> (west of Sackville) for two days. Now they want to look = for more footage of the shorebirds and of their food, mud shrimps etc., = here in the Grand Pre area.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal = normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br&