[ValleyNature] Migration of lots of shorebirds - Grand Pre

[James W. Wolford]

Sherman mentions there was little or no wind apparent to him, but I  
think the departing shorebirds are good at finding a tail-wind at  
some level of altitude to give them a good "push" as they start their  
very long flight over water to northern South America.  Great note,  
Sherman!  It makes me wonder if I could have heard the birds' peeping  
that you could hear as the waves of birds passed by your house on  
Horton Bluff.  Cheers from Jim in Wolfville.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Sherman Williams <sherm at glinx.com>
> Date: August 24, 2009 3:40:10 AM ADT
> To: naturens at chebucto.ns.ca
> Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Large number shorebirds - Grand Pre
> Reply-To: naturens at chebucto.ns.ca
>
> I would be interested in hearing if those of you who have been  
> keeping a close watch on the shorebird numbers,  are seeing a drop  
> in numbers beginning tomorrow,  Monday (Aug 24).   Late Sunday  
> evening (Aug 23) and until about 2 am (Aug 24) the sky over Horton  
> Bluff was filled with waves of the piping-twittery sounds of high- 
> flying shorebirds,  all heading southeast.  Perhaps an average of  
> between 3 and 4 waves of birds per minute.
>
> This came to my attention between 11 and 11:15 p.m. while sitting  
> at my computer; my ear caught the sounds wafting in the open study  
> window. I immediately went out on my upper deck which faces  
> northwest in the general direction of Minas Basin and Avonport  
> Beach. It wasn't long before another wave of birds were approaching  
> from the same general direction of sky having Draco and the Dippers  
> (Big and Small) as starry background.  In a few seconds they passed  
> over the house and faded into the distance southeastward. They no  
> sooner passed out of earshot when another group was piping toward me.
>
> After a few minutes of listening I decided to get my digital camera  
> and make myself comfortable. The digital camera, which takes  
> digital video clips, was used in trying to capture the sound of the  
> birds and some of my comments on what I was witnessing and a time  
> stamp to go with it.   I managed to capture two or three reasonable  
> samples.
>
> What is amazing is that this went on unabated, wave after wave of  
> twittering little piping sounds until well past 1 a.m. About 1:20  
> a.m. the numbers really slowed down. A few more flocks went over  
> but they were spaced much further apart in time and a few of the  
> groups only had a couple of birds piping, stragglers.  Just before  
> 2 a.m there were 3 or 4 more waves of reasonable size go over.  I  
> decided to call it quits for the night.  As I type this I have only  
> heard two more small groups pass over.
>
> The stars were shining brightly through most of the observation. A  
> few clouds occasionally moved across and hazed out some of the  
> stars. Very little or no breeze.  The Minas Basin tide at 11 p.m.  
> was just nicely beginning to rise, having been low at 10:12 p.m.
>
> Just about every year I witness this phenomenon usually sometime  
> between the 10th and 25th of August and just about every time it is  
> associated with a starry night, a high pressure weather cell   
> building in over the area just after a low pressure weather system  
> is moving out.  That was very dramatically the situation today (Aug  
> 23rd).
>
> Sherman
>
>
> On 21/08/2009, at 9:18 PM, Judy Tufts wrote:
>
>> Fri. Aug 21 / 09    High Tide 2.12 p.m.
>>
>> It seems several of us were checking out the Grand Pre shorebirds  
>> today!
>>
>> The tide was very high (15.1m) and had almost completely covered  
>> the rocks
>> along the outer rocky extensions to the western Grand Pre dyke  
>> opposite the
>> Wolfville Sewage Ponds, when I arrived at 2.30 p.m. The 300+ birds  
>> I found
>> there were squeezed onto a few small uncovered boulders with  
>> barely room to
>> move, with rising tide level threatening to cover those rocks.  I  
>> was told
>> by a lady walking her dog along the dyke from Wolfville harbour,  
>> that she
>> had been observing similar sights all along the outer dyke wall,  
>> from the
>> beginning of her walk until she reached me.  Among this group of  
>> roosting
>> peeps I noted at least 12 DUNLIN and 20 Semip. Plovers.
>> 36 Black-bellied Plovers flew by looking for a suitable landing spot.
>>
>> At The GUZZLE one hour after high tide:
>> Huge flocks of tightly packed shorebirds (majority Semip.  
>> Sandpipers) were
>> huddled on the upper parts of the beach to the west of the  
>> 'point'. I bumped
>> into Pat Macleod walking her little dog along the dyke (well away  
>> from the
>> birds and beach), and together we watched the roosting flocks,  
>> waiting for
>> movement once the tide dropped.  It was only once they began to  
>> disperse
>> into flocks and move out to feed,that we were really able to see  
>> the depth
>> of numbers, and 60,000+ would be our guesstimate.
>>
>> A couple of flocks, when they broke up to feed in front of our  
>> vantage
>> point, contained hundreds of Semip. Plovers, a few White-rumps,  
>> some Least
>> Sandpipers and a couple of Sanderlings.  Just as I left at 4.45  
>> p.m. an
>> immature Peregrine singled out a 'peep' but in spite of numerous  
>> attempts
>> failed to connect and left. The sudden appearance of this falcon  
>> quickly
>> cleared the beach near us of all 'peeps' and they headed 'en  
>> masse' towards
>> the cove to the west along Evangeline Beach.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Judy Tufts
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>    Judy  Tufts
>>     Wolfville
>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>

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