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Subject:

Shorebird Breeding Failure?--long

From:

Laura Roland

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Mon, 16 Aug 2004 09:45:00 -0400

this was posted on the California list and forwarded to me by my dad.  It might be of interest to our area as well.
Laura Roland
Alexandria, VA

Subj:    [CALBIRDS] shorebirds - long 
Date:   8/10/2004 
CA  Birders: The following is a very interesting analysis of shorebird nesting problems in the north country. Thank you to Ron Pittaway for his thoroughness.  Michael McQuerrey Bakersfield, California  

Very few southbound juvenile shorebirds from the arctic are currently migrating through southern Ontario indicating a failed nesting season for many northern species. For example, at Townsend Sewage Lagoons near Lake Erie on 8 August, Kevin McLaughlin saw 400-500 adult Semipalmated Sandpipers and only one juvenile. He saw only 5- 6 juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs among 200-300 adults and had few juvenile Least Sandpipers. Juveniles of all these species should be common by now. This spring and summer have been exceptionally cold, wet and windy in much of northern Canada from James Bay to the High Arctic Islands. Here are reports from six biologists and birders, five of whom were in the north this summer.  1. Ken Ross, waterfowl and shorebird biologist, Canadian Wildlife Service:  "It looks to me that there has been a general failure of breeding shorebirds from the Hudson Bay Lowlands north. Certainly goose productivity was well down along the Hudson Bay coast where it was still winter in late May. And I have heard that the Arctic was even worse. Ken Abraham was telling me that shorebirds appeared to be migrating earlier than usual in the James Bay area, probably reflecting a large proportion of failed breeders."  2. Ken Abraham, biologist and research scientist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), studies waterfowl and shorebirds around James Bay and Hudson Bay:  He reports, "Strong indications that the extremely late year spring (May/June) and cold/wet summer (June-July) was indeed a poor year for breeding shorebirds. My student Linh Nguyen had a fair number of Semipalmated Plover nests this year, but a ragged nesting season with very high egg predation, really asynchronous timing and changes in nest density among areas, compared to his two previous summers. While banding 12-23 July we witnessed increasing numbers of Pectoral Sandpipers, a few Ruddy Turnstones, hundreds of both species of yellowlegs and a very early massing of Marbled Godwits (in my experience). We had Marbled Godwits in flocks alone and mixed with Hudsonian Godwits at several locations from the extreme south end of James Bay (Hannah Bay) up to Lake River and including Akimiski Island (largest island in James Bay). I suspect that Marbled Godwit, in particular, had a poor year, but possibly so did Hudsonian Godwit."  Note: isolated James Bay population of Marbled Godwits is probably about 3000 birds.  3. Don Sutherland, zoologist with the Natural Heritage Information Centre of the OMNR, reported:  "My guess is that there was widespread nest failure of shorebirds and many other arctic-subarctic bird species in eastern Canada. When we arrived at the Pen Islands (Ontario/Manitoba border of Hudson Bay) on June 23rd, things really hadn't started yet. There was still substantial ice on many of the larger lakes, large snowdrifts in the lee of ridges and spruce copses, hardly a hint of plant growth anywhere, and several inches of water on the wet tundra. Many of the local species including the common shorebird species (Stilt Sandpiper, Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe, Short-billed Dowitcher, Hudsonian Godwit, Whimbrel, Red-necked Phalarope, American Golden-Plover) were displaying, but weren't behaving as though they had initiated nests. After a few days we started flushing more birds from scrapes and partial clutches and by the time we departed on July 7th there were even some clutches starting to hatch (e.g., Least Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper). More telling though were the large flocks of shorebirds present throughout the period. These were either failed breeders or birds which had just opted not to try. Among these were substantial mixed flocks of Hudsonian Godwits and Short- billed Dowitchers (which breed more commonly in the taiga-tundra transition) and large mixed species aggregations including large numbers of Stilt Sandpipers (150 in one flock). Many of these flocks were concentrated in ponds along the coast, but were also present six or more kilometres inland. Also of interest was the near absence of both Semipalmated Plover and Semipalmated Sandpiper. These should have been present and not uncommon (as they have been in other years) on the gravel ridges bordering wet tundra near the coast, but we saw very few of either and found no nests.Other species which typically breed further inland (e.g., both yellowlegs and Bonaparte's Gulls) were also loafing in ponds near the coast. Waterfowl also had a poor time of it. Large numbers of scaup of both species just hanging around and no evidence of breeding even by Long-tailed Ducks which were just sitting in pairs on ponds. There was a total failure of the Snow Goose colony and near total failure of locally breeding Canada Geese. This phenomenon wasn't restricted to the Ontario coast as Churchill apparently was a bust as were other places in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Just one of those years!"  4. Farther north, Jim Richards of Orono, Ontario, spent 27 June - 13 July at Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island in Nunavut Territory. He reported:  "That overall numbers of birds present at the end of June was down by at least 60%. Of those there only a small percentage were actually nesting. In past years species such as Semipalmated Sandpipers were usually found at a rate of 4-6 nests per day with normal walking. This year I found one nest in 16 days! Needless to say, it was very cold, very wet and very windy."  5. Glenn Coady of Toronto, Ontario, was atlassing in the Hudson Bay Lowlands and was in contact with other groups in the north: He summarized,  "Discussing shorebird nesting success with all the Ontario Hudson Bay atlas groups, Mark Peck's experience on Southampton Island in Nunavut, Jim Richards' experience at Cambridge Bay in Nunavut, as well as one of my birding friends who was at Churchill this summer, it would appear very few shorebirds were able to successfully breed in the frigid conditions across the arctic this summer. Many didn't even attempt to nest, and a lot of those that did likely failed in the horrific windstorms. Jim Richards told me that areas he covered at Cambridge Bay that normally would have resulted in sightings of 70 Semipalmated Sandpipers and 30 Baird's Sandpipers per day, proved this summer to be lucky to find more than one or two birds. He found only one Semipalmated Sandpiper nest the entire trip, and it only had a clutch of two eggs. The fact that it also was a poor year for small mammals (and Canada Geese and Snow Geese failed en masse too) in much of the arctic meant what few shorebirds that were going to nest successfully probably encountered heavier than normal predation from foxes, jaegers, gulls and owls."  6. Alvaro Jaramillo of California on 6 August reported: "Juvenile shorebirds are down here already, but not the main push. It seems like a lot of the north was suffering from very bad weather. Alaska was very cold and rainy this season, I hope I am wrong and you begin to see a ton of juvenile shorebirds, but my guess is that it will be a weak year for them."  *I hope that birders will report the numbers and age ratios of southbound arctic shorebirds during August, September and October. This will give us better information on the nesting success of northern shorebirds in 2004.  Acknowledgements: The following biologists/birders were very helpful with information: Ken Abraham, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; Glenn Coady, Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas; Bill Crins, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; Michel Gosselin, Canadian Museum of Nature; Jean Iron, Toronto, Ontario; Andrew Jano, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; Alvaro Jaramillo, Half Moon Bay, California; Kevin McLaughlin, Hamilton, Ontario; Mark Peck, Royal Ontario Museum; Jim Richards, Orono, Ontario; MikeRuntz, Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas; Ken Ross, Canadian Wildlife Service; Don Sutherland, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; and Ron Tozer,Dwight,Ontario.  Happy shorebirding,  Ron Pittaway Ontario Field Ornithologists Minden and Toronto ON