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href=3D"mailto:dhamilto@mta.ca">dhamilto@mta.ca</a>&gt; --Apple-Mail-A9C4C3D5-8FC5-4DCA-B4F9-77AA14F1420E Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi Jim Thank you for that simplified summary of the sandpiper waves of southward mi= gration.=20 I do not know the details of the Bloodworm trade. But would their removal fo= r bait possibly result in the opposite effect and leave more prey (I.e. Coro= phium and other small arthropods) available for the peeps without the worms f= eeding on them instead? Other things may be more influential in their needin= g more time to fatten up.=20 Just a thought.=20 Nancy Sent from my iPhone On 2013-07-19, at 4:24 PM, "James W. Wolford" <jimwolford@eastlink.ca> wrote= : >> Date: July 19, 2013 4:20:14 PM ADT >> To: Nature BNS <nature@blomidonnaturalists.ca>, Diana Hamilton <dhamilto@= mta.ca>, Sherman Boates <boatesjs@gov.ns.ca>, Sue Abbott <sabbott@bsc-eoc.or= g>, Julie Paquet <Julie.Paquet@ec.gc.ca> >> Subject: [ValleyNature] Evangeline Beach shorebirds etc., July 19/13 (a b= it long) >>=20 >> JULY 19, 2013 - EVANGELINE BEACH -- This morning was quite rainy and over= cast, but by 11:30 a.m. (high tide was 10 a.m.) the rain was very light, alm= ost a drizzle, which gradually lightened more and then quit while I did a vi= gil from my car in the canteen parking lot (car with driver-side facing Cape= Blomidon (north). Compared with yesterday's bright and blinding sunlight, t= oday the visibility was perfect, with the flying small shorebirds (peeps) ve= ry easy to see against the light gray sky. The ebbing water/flats edge was q= uite close to me when I started, versus much further out/advanced at my star= t yesterday. Thus during my watch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:18 p.m., the flats w= ent from quite narrow to fairly broad, but nowhere near how far the water wo= uld eventually recede by low tide, which would have been three hours later. >>=20 >> Here is the report from my vigil today: Today I saw a total of 658 "peeps= " or small shorebirds (prob. mostly semipalmated sandpipers), which is about= 200 more than seen yesterday. All of these were flying along or parallel t= o the shore, from east to west, and none that I watched landed at all, headi= ng out of sight to the west (toward the mouth of the Cornwallis River). Flo= ck sizes, in order from 11:30 a.m. to 12:08 p.m., were: 25 + 20 + 35 + 25 + 3= 50 + 20 + 60 + 3 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 30 + 10. Very probably I missed some= peeps, since, like yesterday, the first small flock occurred just when I ar= rived. >>=20 >> Other birds seen were 9 double-crested cormorants, 18 herring gulls, 5 gr= eat black-backed gulls, and 2 immature bald eagles. >>=20 >> A surprise seen fairly close to shore was a SEAL, very probably a harbour= seal, seen only briefly and distantly. >>=20 >> I ended my vigil at 12:18 p.m. >> --------------------------- >>=20 >> FURTHER GENERAL INFO' ON OUR MIGRANT SHOREBIRDS here in the Minas Basin I= mportant Bird Area: >>=20 >> For those who don't know, I will summarize the season for the south-bound= migrant shorebirds at this site (especially semipalmated sandpipers). Afte= r mostly wintering in South America, most of them take a different route on t= heir migration north through Spring to arrive in the Low Arctic, west of Hud= son Bay across to Alaska, where they court, nest, and raise juveniles. Fema= le adults incubate the eggs, then the male raises the chicks, while the fema= le can recover & fatten up & migrate south before the others. The earliest s= outhbound migrants arrive from late June to (mostly) mid-July. The next wav= e of migrants is mostly males, who have by then abandoned the independent ju= veniles in the north and migrated south. Finally the third wave, largely na= ive juveniles, show up here (these three "waves" are herein greatly oversimp= lified). All of them are dependent on the nutritious mudflats for fattening= up for that long, non-stop-over-the-water, flight to northern South America= (Suriname). Thus the season here is a long one, from early to mid-July to w= ell into September and later to October. During those many weeks, flocks ar= e constantly arriving while others are departing, when conditions are right f= or long flights. (Also consider the common sense that says, if the semi's w= ere not really good at this, natural selection would have weeded out this mi= gratory route.) Individual semi' sandpipers have been thought to spend 10 t= o 14 days here in fattening up, but there is some concern that this length o= f stay could be longer than previously. One possible reason of many is that= commercial digging of baitworms/bloodworms (Glycera) here for bait for spor= t-fishing in eastern U.S. results in some of the prey animals like mud shrim= ps becoming not only less abundant but also less available to the semi' sand= pipers. >>=20 >> Here I will invite comments from Julie Paquet of Can. Wildl. Service, She= rman Boates of N.S. Dept. of Nat. Resources, and especially Diana Hamilton o= f Mount Allison University, who has had a team studying all of this for quit= e a few years, with many publications. One of the things they have discover= ed is that the diet of the semi' sandpipers is much more diverse than previo= usly thought. >>=20 >> Additional important perspective is that these shorebirds have been showi= ng gradual population declines during recent decades, and the reasons are po= orly understood, I think. Quality of nesting habitats and overwintering hab= itats are big questions, in addition to all of the stop-over spots like ours= here. The local mudflats are extremely biodiverse and incredibly productiv= e (think of the salt-marsh sediment and Grand Pre agricultural crops on the d= ykelands, which used to be tidal marshes).=20 >> ------------------------- =20 >> Cheers from Jim in Wolfville. >> _______________________________________________ >> Nature mailing list >> Nature@blomidonnaturalists.ca >> http://blomidonnaturalists.ca/mailman/listinfo/nature_blomidonnaturalists= .ca >=20 --Apple-Mail-A9C4C3D5-8FC5-4DCA-B4F9-77AA14F1420E Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html><head><meta http-equiv=3D"content-type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3D= utf-8"></head><body dir=3D"auto"><div>Hi Jim</div><div><br></div><div>Thank y= ou for that simplified summary of the sandpiper waves of southward migration= . </div><div><br></div><div>I do not know the details of the Bloodworm t= rade. But would their removal for bait possibly result in the opposite effec= t and leave more prey (I.e. Corophium and other small arthropods) available f= or the peeps without the worms feeding on them instead? Other things may be m= ore influential in their needing more time to fatten up. </div><div><br= ></div><div>Just a thought. </div><div><br></div><div>Nancy<br><br>Sent= from my iPhone</div><div><br>On 2013-07-19, at 4:24 PM, "James W. Wolford" &= lt;jimwolford@eastlink.ca> w= rote:<br><br></div><blockquote type=3D"cite"><div><div><blockquote type=3D"c= ite"><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; m= argin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" color=3D"#000000" sty= le=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Date: </b></font><font face= =3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica">July 19, 2013 4:2= 0:14 PM ADT</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; ma= rgin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" co= lor=3D"#000000" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>To: </b>= </font><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica">= Nature BNS <<a href=3D"mailto:nature@blomidonnaturalists.ca">nature@blomi= donnaturalists.ca</a>>, Diana Hamilton <<a href=3D"mailto:dhamilto@mta= .ca">dhamilto@mta.ca</a>>, Sherman Boates <<a href=3D"mailto:boatesjs@= gov.ns.ca">boatesjs@gov.ns.ca</a>>, Sue Abbott <<a href=3D"mailto:sabb= ott@bsc-eoc.org">sabbott@bsc-eoc.org</a>>, Julie Paquet <<a href=3D"ma= ilto:Julie.Paquet@ec.gc.ca">Julie.Paquet@ec.gc.ca</a>></font></div><div s= tyle=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left:= 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" color=3D"#000000" style=3D"font:= 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Subject: </b></font><font face=3D"Helv= etica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>[ValleyNature] Evangel= ine Beach shorebirds etc., July 19/13 (a bit long)</b></font></div><div styl= e=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0p= x; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> <div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-righ= t: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" siz= e=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>JULY 19, 2013 - EVANGELINE BEACH= </b>-- This morning was quite<b> rainy and overcast, but</b> by 11:30 a.m. (= high tide was 10 a.m.) the rain was very light, almost a drizzle, which grad= ually lightened more and then quit while<b> I did a vigil from my car </b>in= the canteen parking lot (car with driver-side facing Cape Blomidon (north).= Compared with yesterday's bright and blinding sunlight, today the <b>= visibility was perfect</b>, with the flying small shorebirds (peeps) very ea= sy to see against the light gray sky. The ebbing water/flats edge was q= uite close to me when I started, versus much further out/advanced at my star= t yesterday. Thus during my watch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:18 p.m., the f= lats went from quite narrow to fairly broad, but nowhere near how far the wa= ter would eventually recede by low tide, which would have been three hours l= ater.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-b= ottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helveti= ca; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-righ= t: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" siz= e=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>Here is the report from my vigil= today: </b>Today I saw a total of <b>658 "peeps"</b> or small shorebirds (p= rob. mostly semipalmated sandpipers), which is about 200 more than seen yest= erday. All of these were flying along or parallel to the shore, from e= ast to west, and none that I watched landed at all, heading out of sight to t= he west (toward the mouth of the Cornwallis River). Flock sizes, in or= der from 11:30 a.m. to 12:08 p.m., were: 25 + 20 + 35 + 25 + 350 + 20 + 60 += 3 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 30 + 10. <b>Very probably I missed some peeps= , since</b>, like yesterday, the first small flock occurred just when I arri= ved.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bo= ttom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetic= a; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><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>Other birds seen</b> were 9 doubl= e-crested cormorants, 18 herring gulls, 5 great black-backed gulls, and 2 im= mature bald eagles.</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></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0p= x; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"= Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica">A surprise seen fairl= y close to shore was <b>a SEAL, very probably a harbour seal</b>, seen only b= riefly and distantly.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-righ= t: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12p= x/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0= px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D= "Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica">I ended my vigil at 1= 2:18 p.m.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; marg= in-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" styl= e=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica">---------------------------</font></div><div st= yle=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0= px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><b= r></div><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>FURTHER GENERAL INFO' ON OUR MIGRANT SHOREBIRDS here in th= e Minas Basin Important Bird Area:</b></font></div><div style=3D"margin-top:= 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal n= ormal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><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">For= those who don't know, I will summarize the <b>season for the south-bound mi= grant shorebirds</b> at this site (especially semipalmated sandpipers). = ; After mostly wintering in South America, most of them take a different rou= te on their migration north through Spring to arrive in the Low Arctic, west= of Hudson Bay across to Alaska, where they court, nest, and raise juveniles= . Female adults incubate the eggs, then the male raises the chicks, wh= ile the female can recover & fatten up & migrate south before the ot= hers. The earliest southbound migrants arrive from late June to (mostl= y) mid-July. The next wave of migrants is mostly males, who have by th= en abandoned the independent juveniles in the north and migrated south. = ; Finally the third wave, largely naive juveniles, show up here (these three= "waves" are herein greatly oversimplified). All of them are dependent= on the nutritious mudflats for fattening up for that long, non-stop-over-th= e-water, flight to northern South America (Suriname). Thus<b> the seas= on here is a long one</b>, from early to mid-July to well into September and= later to October. During those many weeks, flocks are constantly arri= ving while others are departing, when conditions are right for long flights.= (Also consider the common sense that says, if the semi's were not rea= lly good at this, natural selection would have weeded out this migratory rou= te.) Individual semi' sandpipers have been thought to spend 10 to 14 d= ays here in fattening up, but there is some concern that this length of stay= could be longer than previously. One possible reason of many is that c= ommercial digging of baitworms/bloodworms (<i>Glycera</i>) here for bait for= sport-fishing in eastern U.S. results in some of the prey animals like mud s= hrimps becoming not only less abundant but also less available to the semi' s= andpipers.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; mar= gin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal He= lvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><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>Here I will invite comments= </b> from Julie Paquet of Can. Wildl. Service, Sherman Boates of N.S. Dept. o= f Nat. Resources, and especially Diana Hamilton of Mount Allison University,= who has had a team studying all of this for quite a few years, with many pu= blications. One of the things they have discovered is that the diet of= the semi' sandpipers is much more diverse than previously thought.</font></= div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; ma= rgin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height= : 14px; "><br></div><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">Additional important perspective is that these shor= ebirds have been showing gradual <b>population declines</b> during recent de= cades, and the reasons are poorly understood, I think. Quality of <b>n= esting habitats and overwintering habitats</b> are big questions, in additio= n to all of the stop-over spots like ours here. The local mudflats are= extremely biodiverse and incredibly productive (think of the salt-marsh sed= iment and Grand Pre agricultural crops on the dykelands, which used to be ti= dal marshes). </font></div><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">------------------------- </font>= </div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; m= argin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-heigh= t: 14px; ">Cheers from Jim in Wolfville.</div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px;= margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">________________= _______________________________</div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-r= ight: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Nature mailing list</div>= <div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin= -left: 0px; "><a href=3D"mailto:Nature@blomidonnaturalists.ca">Nature@blomid= onnaturalists.ca</a></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; m= argin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href=3D"http://blomidonnaturalists= .ca/mailman/listinfo/nature_blomidonnaturalists.ca">http://blomidonnaturalis= ts.ca/mailman/listinfo/nature_blomidonnaturalists.ca</a></div> </blockquote>= </div><br></div></blockquote></body></html>= --Apple-Mail-A9C4C3D5-8FC5-4DCA-B4F9-77AA14F1420E--
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