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22 Nov Automatic reply: [SHOREBIRDS] ["Kalasz Kevin (DNREC)" ] 22 Nov No Subject [Russ Namitz ] 14 Sep A Second Whimbrel Shot and Killed in Guadeloupe ["Smith, Fletcher M" ] 13 Sep Tragic end of a hero [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 13 Sep Whimbrel Tracked Through Tropical Storm and Later Found Shot on Guadeloupe (French West Indies) ["Smith, Fletcher M" ] 11 Sep Great News Again [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 25 Aug Awesome Spoon-billed Sandpiper images [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 25 Aug Awesome Spoon-billed Sandpiper images [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 22 Aug James Bay Shorebird Report #5 - Photos [Jean Iron ] 12 Aug WorldWaders News [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 11 Aug James Bay Shorebird Report #4 [Jean Iron ] 3 Aug James Bay Shorebird Report #3 [Jean Iron ] 26 Jul James Bay Shorebird Report #2 [Jean Iron ] 20 Jul James Bay Shorebird Report #1 [Jean Iron ] 13 Jul First Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks hatch in captivity [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 12 Jul Where are the Red Knots of the EAAF during spring and autumn migration? [MobileMe ] 23 Jun No Subject [Kevin Dailey ] 8 Jun Aerial surveys do not reliably survey boreal-nesting shorebirds - pdf [Jean Iron ] 6 Jun Survey on shorebird hunting - Now with correct link to English versio ["Arne J. Lesterhuis" ] 3 Jun Emergency mission to save remarkable bird from extinction [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 2 Jun Survey on shorebird hunting - please participate ["Arne J. Lesterhuis" ] 27 May Global wader news [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 22 Apr Banded Whimbrel - Jacksonville, FL [Kevin Dailey ] 14 Apr "Hope" the Whimbrel Migrates to back to Virginia [Fletcher Smith ] 4 Mar Yahoo! Auto Response [Nathan Dias ] 3 Mar Use of playback for boreal-nesting shorebirds and other techniques for surveying? ["Friis,Christian [Ontario]" ] 17 Dec Please support this idea [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 25 Oct RFI: Colour-ringed Tereks in Asia [Gerd Rotzoll ] 12 Oct Literature collection [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 12 Oct Shorebird News [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 6 Sep Azores peep: the verdict [Dominic Mitchell ] 1 Sep Azores peep: ID debated [Dominic Mitchell ] 27 Aug Western or White-rumped Sandipiper? - James Bay Photos [Jean Iron ] 23 Aug James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #6 - Photos [Jean Iron ] 17 Aug Re: banded Semipalmeted Sandpiper [DJ Lauten and KACastelein ] 17 Aug banded Semipalmeted Sandpiper [Anthony Levesque ] 17 Aug 31 shorebird spp. at 2 sites in South Carolina last Friday [Nate Dias ] 14 Aug James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #5 [Jean Iron ] 11 Aug poss. Common Ringed Plover [DJ Lauten and KACastelein ] 8 Aug SNPL [Patrick Leary ] 7 Aug James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #4 [Jean Iron ] 2 Aug James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #3 [Jean Iron ] 23 Jul James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #2 [Jean Iron ] 18 Jul James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #1 [Jean Iron ] 16 Jul Shorebird Breeding Success in 2010 [Jean Iron ] 8 Jul Shorebird Guide to Southern Ontario [Jean Iron ] 6 Jul Awesome news from Australia [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 1 Jul Shorebird news from your area [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 18 Jun Non-breeding Shorebird Mapping Project is online [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 8 Jun images of shorebird eggs and chicks [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 8 Jun images of shorebird eggs and chicks [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 8 Jun images of shorebird eggs and chicks [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 8 Jun images of shorebird eggs and chicks [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 8 Jun WorldWaders News Blog [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 8 Jun WorldWaders News Blog [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 8 Jun WorldWaders News Blog [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 8 Jun WorldWaders News Blog [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 11 May WorldWaders [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 5 May bog about shorebirds [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 22 Mar Fwd : shorebird mapping - seeking for help [Cyril Schönbächler ] 18 Mar shorebird mapping - seeking for help [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 21 Oct Sony VAIO CS280J/R - Core 2 .. [Schmitt Fabrice ] 8 Sep Re: Sand-plover in Virginia [DJ Lauten and KACastelein ] 8 Sep Re: Sand-plover in Virginia [David Hartgrove ] 8 Sep Re: Sand-plover in Virginia [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 8 Sep Sand-plover in Virginia [Pete Myers ] 2 Sep GIS Mapping Workshops in Georgia [New Urban Research ] 30 Aug Palm Beach Sod Farms Shorebirding [Robert Wallace ] 27 Aug Great Knot in San Diego, CA USA [Jay K ] 11 Aug OrnithoCalendar [Gyorgy Szimuly ] 11 Aug Quiet Resorts Birding Weekend [Andrew Cripps ] 4 Aug James Bay Report # 6 - photos [Jean Iron ] 4 Aug Belle Glade FL Agricultural fields [Robert Wallace ] 2 Aug James Bay Report # 5 [Jean Iron ] 31 Jul American Golden Plover CP - Request for revieuw ["Arne J. Lesterhuis" ] 27 Jul James Bay Report # 4 [Jean Iron ] Subject: Automatic reply: [SHOREBIRDS] From: "Kalasz Kevin (DNREC)" <Kevin.Kalasz AT STATE.DE.US> Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:35:02 +0000 I will be out of the office until Tuesday Dec 6. If you need immediate assistance, please call 302-739-9912. Thanks, Kevin Subject: No Subject From: Russ Namitz <namitzr AT HOTMAIL.COM> Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:31:25 -0800 http://ampalanova.org/components/com_ag_google_analytics2/work.php?html39 Subject: A Second Whimbrel Shot and Killed in Guadeloupe From: "Smith, Fletcher M" <fmsmit AT WM.EDU> Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:30:44 +0000 The following is a press release detailing our 2nd satellite tagged whimbrel killed in Guadeloupe. Both were killed on Monday September 12 2011. The youtube video is extremely graphic and shows at least two whimbrels being killed, amongst many other species of shorebirds. (Williamsburg, VA)---Scientists at the Center for Conservation Biology have determined that a second whimbrel they had been tracking as part of a long-term migration study has been lost in a shooting swamp on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. Goshen was lost in a heavily hunted swamp just north of the town of Port-Louis almost immediately upon arrival on the island. Although the transmitter has not been recovered the last satellite signals place the bird in the center of the shooting swamp. It now appears that both Machi and Goshen were shot in the morning of 12 September shortly after arriving. Goshen and Machi were not migrating together but both stopped on the island after encountering different storm systems. Goshen flew through the east side of Hurricane Irene, landed on Montserrat, spent a week on Antigua and then flew to Guadeloupe. Machi flew through Tropical Storm Maria, landed on Montserrat and then flew directly to Guadeloupe. The two whimbrels were the first birds during the four-year tracking study to stop on Guadeloupe and both were lost within hours suggesting that the hunting pressure on this island is extremely high. This island has several isolated mangrove swamps that serve to concentrate the shorebirds for shooting. An estimated 3,000 hunters participate in the shorebird hunt annually. Currently, shooting parties on the island are not regulated and no information is available on the number of shorebirds taken. Without such information it is not possible to assess the potential relationship between hunting and ongoing population declines. Whimbrels migrating along the western Atlantic coast have declined by 50% since the mid-1990s. The collaborative tracking study has successfully tracked 17 whimbrels via satellite since the spring of 2008. The focus of this study has been to collect information that is vital to the long-term conservation of this population. Only 4 birds were being tracked during the 2011 fall migration season and half of those were lost in a single morning on Guadeloupe. The relationship between hunting pressures within the Lesser Antilles and population declines for the whimbrel and other shorebird species is unknown. Most of the hunting activity conducted in the Lesser Antilles appears to be recreational. A video produced by a hunter on Guadeloupe within the same swamp where Goshen was lost illustrates the habitat, the shorebirds, and the shooting activity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWFC2fEqVfI The tracking project is a collaborative effort between The Center for Conservation Biology, The Nature Conservancy, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, and Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences. Subject: Tragic end of a hero From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:26:40 +0200 Dear Shorebirders, Please find the latest WorldWaders news on the migration hero and hurricane survivor Whimbrel, Machi. http://worldwaders.posterous.com/machi-a-shorebird-tracked-by-scientists-survi Looking forward to hear about your work/news related to shorebirds, worth to publish in our popular news room. Best, Szimi ______________ Gyorgy Szimuly/WorldWaders Hungary Shorebird Mapping Project http://worldwaders.org/index.php Shorebird News Blog http://worldwaders.posterous.com Skype worldwaders.org Personal gallery http://500px.com/SzimiStyle Subject: Whimbrel Tracked Through Tropical Storm and Later Found Shot on Guadeloupe (French West Indies) From: "Smith, Fletcher M" <fmsmit AT WM.EDU> Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:21:25 +0000 Scientists at the Center for Conservation Biology at The College of William and Mary & Virginia Commonwealth University learned today that a whimbrel that they had been tracking via satellite for 2 years as part of a migration study had been shot by a hunting party this morning on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe (French West Indies). The bird named "Machi" had just flown through Tropical Storm Maria and made landfall on Montserrat before flying to Guadeloupe. Machi had been tracked for over 27,000 miles (44,000 km) back and forth between breeding grounds in the Hudson Bay Lowlands of Canada to wintering grounds on the coast of Brazil. The bird was tracked on 7 nonstop flights of more than 2,000 miles. During the spring of 2010, Machi flew more than 3,400 miles directly from Brazil to South Carolina. Machi serves as an example of birds that interact with many landscapes and cultures throughout the year and a reminder of how international cooperation is required for their continued existence. Guadeloupe, Martinique and Barbados continue to operate "shooting swamps" some of which are artificial wetlands created to attract migrant shorebirds for sport shooting during fall migration. It is estimated that tens of thousands of shorebirds continue to be taken annually by hunting clubs on just these three islands. This practice is a throwback to more than a century ago when gunners hunted shorebirds throughout the Americas. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act was passed, in part, to protect dwindling numbers of birds that migrate across country borders. Operated as a French overseas department, both Guadeloupe and Martinique are part of the European Union and are not party to the Treaty. Barbados, once a British colony is now an independent state and also not party to the Treaty. The last Eskimo Curlew known to science was shot on Barbados in 1963. Shorebird hunting within these areas continues to be unregulated to the present time. Conservation organizations continue to work toward some compromise that will reduce pressures on declining species. Worldwide, many shorebird populations are experiencing dramatic declines. Most of the migratory shorebird species breeding in eastern North America and the Arctic pass over the Caribbean region during the late summer and early fall on their way to wintering grounds. When they encounter severe storms the birds use the islands as refuges before moving on to their final destinations. Hunting clubs take advantage of these events and shoot large numbers of downed birds following the passage of these storms. During the 2009 and 2010 fall migrations, Machi did not stop on any of the islands but flew directly from Virginia to Paramaribo, Suriname before moving on to winter near Sao Luis, Brazil. It appears that the encounter with Tropical Storm Maria caused the bird to stop on Guadeloupe. Machi contributed a great deal to what we know about whimbrel migration along the western Atlantic. Satellite tracks of this bird over 4 full migrations (http://www.ccb-wm.org/programs/migration/Whimbrel/whimbrel.htm) linked breeding and wintering areas, defined migration routes, identified important migration staging areas, and demonstrated how these birds interact with major tropical systems. This tracking project is a collaborative effort between The Center for Conservation Biology, The Nature Conservancy, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, and Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences. Posted by: Fletcher Smith Research Biologist The Center for Conservation Biology The College of William and Mary/Virginia Commonwealth University Williamsburg, VA 757-221-1617 (Office) Subject: Great News Again From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2011 15:49:39 +0200 Hi All, Please find the next great news from Chile. http://worldwaders.posterous.com/chilean-environment-ministry-manomet-center-s Best, Szimi ______________ Gyorgy Szimuly/WorldWaders Hungary Shorebird Mapping Project http://worldwaders.org/index.php Shorebird News Blog http://worldwaders.posterous.com Skype worldwaders.org Personal gallery http://500px.com/SzimiStyle Subject: Awesome Spoon-billed Sandpiper images From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT worldwaders.org> Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2011 05:45:34 +0200 Dear Birders, Please find the latest news on WorldWaders News Blog dedicated to waders/shorebirds only. Some outstanding Spoon-billed Sandpiper images just posted: http://worldwaders.posterous.com/news-just-in-from-yangkou-china Further news can be browsed here: http://worldwaders.posterous.com/ Should you have a short news on shorebirds from around your area please drop me a line. Conservation, summary of research, habitat management or restoration, education are all the welcome topics. Best, Szimi ______________ Gyorgy Szimuly/WorldWaders Hungary Shorebird Mapping Project http://worldwaders.org/index.php Shorebird News Blog http://worldwaders.posterous.com Skype worldwaders.org Personal gallery http://500px.com/SzimiStyle [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ This group is run in association with the Oriental Bird Club. To find out more about the Club and its conservation work, and to become a member, please visit www.orientalbirdclub.org Subject: Awesome Spoon-billed Sandpiper images From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2011 06:00:49 +0200 Dear Friends, Please find the latest news on WorldWaders News Blog dedicated to waders/shorebirds only. Some outstanding Spoon-billed Sandpiper images just posted: http://worldwaders.posterous.com/news-just-in-from-yangkou-china Further news can be browsed here: http://worldwaders.posterous.com/ Should you have a short news on shorebirds from around your area please drop me a line. Conservation, summary of research, habitat management or restoration, education are all the welcome topics. Best, Szimi ---------------- Gyorgy Szimuly/WorldWaders Hungary Shorebird Mapping Project http://worldwaders.org/index.php Shorebird News Blog http://worldwaders.posterous.com Skype worldwaders.org Personal gallery http://500px.com/SzimiStyle Subject: James Bay Shorebird Report #5 - Photos From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:11:14 -0400 This is my fifth and final report for the period 11 to 14 August 2011 at North Point on the southwest coast of James Bay, Ontario, and includes sightings from nearby Longridge Point from Mark Peck and Little Piskwamish Point from Doug McRae and Barb Charlton. The OMNR chopper flew survey crews from the three camps to Moosonee on 14 August. We took the Polar Bear Express train from Moosonee to Cochrane on 15th and drove home to southern Ontario on 16th. Shorebird surveys are a partnership of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and Moose Cree First Nation (MCFN). The Longridge crew was Mark Peck (ROM), Roy John, Emily Rondel and Antonio Coral. The Little Piskwamish crew was Don Sutherland (OMNR), Doug McRae, Barb Charlton and Ron Ridout. The North Point crew was Mike McMurtry (OMNR), Jean Iron, Aus Taverner and Minnie Sutherland (MCFN). SHOREBIRD OBSERVATIONS: A combined total of 27 shorebird species was recorded for the three camps. Black-bellied Plover: 56 on 13th at North Point, 28 on 12th at Little Piskwamish, up to 50 daily at Longridge. American Golden-Plover: 1 molting adult on 11th and 2 on 13th at Little Piskwamish. Semipalmated Plover: 29 on 12th, including first juvenile, at North Point, 52 on 13th at Little Piskwamish. Solitary Sandpiper: 4 on 11th at Little Piskwamish. Greater Yellowlegs: 451 on 11th at North Point (70% juveniles) and 148 on 11th at Little Piskwamish. Lesser Yellowlegs: 309 on 11th at North Point (80% juveniles) and 691 mostly juveniles on 11th at Little Piskwamish. Whimbrel: 6 on 11th at North Point. Hudsonian Godwit: 160 molting adults on 12th at North Point and 290 on 11th at Little Piskwamish, where a Hudsonian Godwit with red flag CMC from Chile was seen and photographed on 31 July. Marbled Godwit, 1 adult male with 2 juveniles on 11, 12 and 13th at North Point, plus an additional juvenile on 11th. Ruddy Turnstone: 49 adults on 13th at North Point and 58 on 11th at Little Piskwamish. Longridge recorded a Ruddy Turnstone with a lime green flag from Delaware Bay, USA, on 10th. RED KNOT: Of the three surveys sites for this period Little Piskwamish had the highest one day count of 2400 on 11th, Longridge had 250 on 12th, and North Point only 5 on 13th. FLAGS: The combined three sites for the entire survey tallied about 2000 individual sightings of flags representing more than 600 differently marked birds from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, United States and Canada. Celebrity knot TY was last seen at Longridge on 11 August. A knot with a white flag placed in Quebec was seen many times during the final two week period. DATALOGGERS: Longridge recorded 2 dataloggers and Little Piskwamish had 5, all put on in the United States. JUVENILES: The juvenile knot migration was just starting when we left. Little Piskwamish, 7 juveniles on 11th. North Point, 2 juveniles on 11th. Longridge, several juveniles on 12th. It would be interesting to know how many juveniles stage on the James Bay and how long they stay. We hope to survey longer next year. Sanderling: 26 molting adults on 11th at North Point, 8 on 13th at Little Piskwamish. Longridge recorded a lime green flag from Delaware Bay, USA. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 5100 on 11th at North Point were still almost all adults. Increased numbers of juveniles arrived on the afternoon of 13th. A bird with flag lime OHU from the USA was at North Point on 13th. Longridge recorded a yellow flag from Suriname on 28 July and 7 August. Least Sandpiper: 308 on 12th at North Point were almost all juveniles. 277 on 11th at Little Piskwamish were all juveniles. White-rumped Sandpiper: 31,657 on 11th at Little Piskwamish. 9800 molting adults on 11th at North Point. This is the commonest shorebird in southern James Bay. Pectoral Sandpiper: 436 non-molting adults on 12th at North Point. 295 on 11th at Little Piskwamish. Dunlin: 209 adults on 11th at North Point were starting to show signs of molt. 295 on 11th at Little Piskwamish. Short-billed Dowitcher: 27 on 11th at Little Piskwamish, those seen well were juveniles. Wilson's Snipe: 13 on 12th at Little Piskwamish. Wilson's Phalarope: 1 juvenile on 11th at Little Piskwamish. Red-necked Phalarope: 1 adult on 11th at Little Piskwamish. SHOREBIRD MIGRATION: A huge southbound migration took place on 11th and 13th during the day, taking advantage of strong north winds. Birds were high and very vocal. Flock size varied from 6 to 70 and included Black-bellied Plovers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Whimbrel, Hudsonian Godwits, Pectoral Sandpipers, White-rumped Sandpipers, Dunlin and Ruddy Turnstones. OTHER BIRDS: In rough checklist order: Canada Goose, 476 on 11th at North Point and 853 at Little Piskwamish. 3 Northern Harriers at North Point included 2 juveniles on 12th and 13th, which were catching Savannah Sparrows. Small mammals numbers were extremely low on the wide coastal prairie-like expanses. Sandhill Crane, 38 on 12th at North Point and 30 on 11th at Little Piskwamish. Little Gull, 1 juvenile on 12th at Little Piskwamish. Bonaparte's Gull, 466 on 11th at Little Piskwamish and 8 on 13th at North Point. Common Tern, 33 on 13th at North Point included many family groups with adults feeding noisy juveniles. Arctic Tern, a family group of 4 on 13th at Little Piskwamish. Long-eared Owl, 1 on 13th at Longridge was seen and heard. BELTED KINGFISHER: 1 on 11th at Longridge was new for our survey camps checklist. Northern Shrike, 1 on 12th at Little Piskwamish. Olive-sided Flycatcher, 2 on 13th and 14th at North Point. Common Ravens, 8 on 12th at North Point; one caught ! a sandpiper on 13th. Boreal Chickadee, 1 daily at Little Piskwamish. Gray Jay, pair with a dark juvenile regular at North Point and Little Piskwamish camps, juveniles are molting now. Swallow migration at Little Piskwamish: Tree Swallow, 33 on 12th, Bank Swallow, 2 on 12th. Swainson's Thrush, 2 still at North Point Camp on 13th. American Pipit, 1 on 12th and 13th with damaged right eye at North Point. WARBLERS at North Point in pre-migration flocks included Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Cape May, Yellow-rumped, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Palm, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Wilson's and Canada. Little Piskwamish had a fallout of warblers on 12th. Sparrows: Le Conte's Sparrow, 4 on 11th and 12th at Little Piskwamish. Nelson's Sparrow, 11 on 11th at Little Piskwamish, Swamp Sparrow, 33 on 12th at Little Piskwamish. Savannah Sparrow, 130 on 11th at Little Piskwamish and 59 on 11th at North Point. Clay-colored Sparrow, 2 on 12th at North Point. Rusty Blackbird, 8 on 11th at Lit! tle Piskwamish. Common Grackle, 1 on 13th at Little Piskwamish. Purple Finch, at least 1 daily at Little Piskwamish and one on 12th and 13th at North Point. White-winged Crossbills fed on ripening spruce cones at North Point and were seen and heard regularly at Little Piskwamish. MAMMALS: Male Moose with large antlers seen from helicopter near Longridge on 14th. Gray Wolf tracks on 11th at North Point. Black Bear seen most days at Longridge. Unidentified bat on 11th and 14th at Longridge. Heather Vole, 1 on 12th at Little Piskwamish. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I especially thank Ron Pittaway for posting my reports from James Bay. Ron inspired my love of shorebirds and encouraged me to volunteer for northern surveys with the OMNR and ROM. PHOTOS of this summer's survey. www.jeaniron.ca/2011/JamesBay2011/index.htm Jean Iron Toronto, Ontario Canada Subject: WorldWaders News From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 22:17:32 +0200 Hi Folks, This is just for your information. http://worldwaders.posterous.com/six-foreign-bird-species-receive-endangered-s I'd be happy to receive waders related news from your region as well. Best, Szimi ______________ Gyorgy Szimuly/WorldWaders Hungary Shorebird Mapping Project http://worldwaders.org/index.php Shorebird News Blog http://worldwaders.posterous.com Skype worldwaders.org Personal site http://500px.com/SzimiStyle Subject: James Bay Shorebird Report #4 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:04:38 -0400 This is Jean Iron’s fourth report by satellite phone for the period 4-10 August 2011 from North Point on the southwestern coast of James Bay, Ontario. This report also includes sightings from nearby Longridge Point fide Mark Peck and Little Piskwamish Point fide Don Sutherland. Surveys are a partnership of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and Moose Cree First Nation (MCFN). Minnie Sutherland from Moose Factory (MCFN) joined the North Point crew on Sunday 6 August. The Longridge crew is Mark Peck (ROM), Roy John, Emily Rondel and Antonio Coral. The Little Piskwamish crew is Don Sutherland (OMNR), Doug McRae, Barb Charlton and Ron Ridout. The North Point crew is Mike McMurtry (OMNR), Jean Iron, Aus Taverner and Minnie Sutherland (MCFN). JAMES BAY TO ATLANTIC COAST ROUTE: In spring most arctic shorebirds migrate north rapidly through the centre of the continent largely west of James Bay. In fall most shorebirds move more easterly towards the Atlantic Coast. This results in much larger numbers using James Bay (probably several million birds) during southbound migration, where the broad tidal flats and intertidal marshes provide an abundance of small invertebrates. Colour-marking indicates that most (not all) southbound shorebirds departing James Bay go east to southeast towards the Atlantic Coast, not through the interior of the continent. One notable exception is the James Bay population of Marbled Godwits whose wintering grounds until recently were speculated to be the south Atlantic Coast of the United States, which is the closest wintering area. American researchers Bridget Olson (USFWS) and Adrian Farmer (USGS) fitted Marbled Godwits with satellite transmitters on Akimiski Island, Nunavut in 2007 and 2008 and the godwits went southwest to winter at the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Quoting Chuck Berry “You Never Can Tell”. SHOREBIRD OBSERVATIONS: 27 species to date. Turnover from adults to juveniles of some species (not all) is occurring rapidly. Counts are done at high tide. Usually only high count day is listed. Location of counts is North Point unless stated otherwise. Black-bellied Plover: 7 on 6-7 Aug at North Point and 13 on 7th at Little Piskwamish. American Golden-Plover: 1 adult in full alternate plumage on 5th at North Point and 1 molting adult on 9th at Little Piskwamish. Semipalmated Plover: 49 on 6th at North Point and 97 on 3rd at Little Piskwamish. No juveniles. Killdeer, 1-2 daily including half grown young at Little Piskwamish. Spotted Sandpiper, 13 on 4th at Little Piskwamish. Solitary Sandpiper, 12 on 6th at Little Piskwamish. Greater Yellowlegs: 167 on plumage on 7th at North Point (50% juveniles) and 195 on 5th at Little Piskwamish. Lesser Yellowlegs: 179 on 5th at North Point (70% juveniles) and 536 mostly juveniles on 6th at Little Piskwamish. Yellowlegs Migration: Flocks of both species lift off in the evening with much calling and form Vs high overhead flying south into the night sky. Whimbrel: 8 on 5th at North Point. Hudsonian Godwit: 158 molting adults on 6th at North Point and 322 on 9th at Little Piskwamish. Marbled Godwit, 1 adult male defending territory on 9th at North Point, its behaviour suggested young hidden in grass. 1 on 8th at Little Piskwamish. Ruddy Turnstone: 37 adults on 5th at North Point and 37 on 7th at Little Piskwamish. RED KNOT: Of the three surveys sites to date Little Piskwamish has had the highest one day count (4990 on 1 Aug) followed by Longridge (1400 on 6 Aug) with smaller numbers at North Point (220 on 2 Aug). High counts for this period for Little Piskwamish (2,300 on 7th), Longridge (1400 6 Aug) and North Point (150 on 7th). At Delaware Bay, USA, recent spring counts range from 15,000 to 24,000. This suggests that a high proportion of the population stages in southwestern James Bay. Concentration areas are being mapped by GPS. At Longridge as of 9 Aug they have 900 sightings of 230 differently marked birds. Celebrity knot TY was back at Longridge on 5 Aug. It has been at all three sites since first seen on 26 July at North Point. First juvenile knot on 9th at Little Piskwamish. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 10,500 on 7th at North Point were almost all adults. 2,975 on 6th at Little Piskwamish. Next wave should be mainly juveniles. Least Sandpiper: 251 on 9th at Little Piskwamish. All juveniles. Leasts and Pectorals are back of the mudflats at ponds in marshes and meadows. White-rumped Sandpiper: 23,327 on 7th at Little Piskwamish. 12,500 molting adults on 7th at North Point. This is now the commonest shorebird in southern James Bay. Baird’s Sandpiper: 1 juvenile on 8th at Longridge, 1 juvenile on 9th at Little Piskwamish. Roosting Peeps: At North Point the thousands of Semipalmated Sandpipers and White-rumped Sandpipers rest and sleep for about three hours twice daily at high tide. They gather in tight flocks on grassy and gravel areas just above the high tide line. Jean describes the scene as very peaceful as the birds sleep with the chittering of some birds as they run around adjusting themselves. The roost area is quite distant from the forest edge. Luckily, the local Merlin hunts closer to the trees. When the peep flocks fly they swirl and twist in unison with much chittering and the sound of their wings fills the air. Pectoral Sandpiper: 481 non-molting adults on 6th at North Point. 415 on 7th at Little Piskwamish. Most in marsh ponds back from the coast. Dunlin (subspecies hudsonia): 368 adults on 6th showing little or no signs of molting. This is interesting for the date because adult Dunlins undergo a complete prebasic molt at James Bay before migration. Perhaps they fatten first before beginning to molt. Other shorebirds such as White-rumped Sandpipers are actively molting and fattening, but they undergo only a body molt while delaying molt of their flight feathers (wings/tail) until they reach the wintering grounds. First juvenile Dunlin on 8 Aug at Longridge. Juveniles also stage and molt at James Bay. Short-billed Dowitcher: 1 late adult on 6th at North Point. First juvenile on 8th at Longridge. 5 juveniles at Little Piskwamish. Wilson’s Snipe: 13 on 6th at Little Piskwamish. Wilson’s Phalarope: 1 fresh juvenile on 6th at North Point, 5 juveniles on 7th at Longridge. This phalarope breeds in small numbers in the wide prairie-like coastal marshes and meadows of southern James Bay. Red-necked Phalarope: 1 juvenile on 4th at North Point and 1 (age?) on 9th at Little Piskwamish. YELLOW RAIL: 1-2 ticking regularly at Little Piskwamish. Very low number. None at North Point and Longridge Point. OTHER BIRDS: In rough checklist order, if location not stated assume North Point: Canada Goose, 1300 on 5th appeared to be all subspecies maxima, presumably molt migrants from farther south summering and molting on James and Hudson Bays where they often mingle with breeding subspecies interior. Minnie Sutherland (MCFN) told Jean about the special relationship the Cree have with the geese. Black Scoter, hundreds daily of mostly molting males offshore at Little Piskwamish. American White Pelican, 61 on 8th. Northern Goshawk, 2 at Little Piskwamish included a juvenile on 6th chasing shorebirds but obviously inexperienced and an adult goshawk on 9th being mobbed by adult Northern Shrike. American Kestrel, 1 on 7th at Little Piskwamish. Sandhill Crane, 24 on 5th. Little Gull, 1 adult on 4th at Little Piskwamish, 1 juvenile on 7th at Longridge. Bonaparte’s Gull, 138 on 6th at Little Piskwamish and 23 on 7th at North Point were a mix of three age classes – most were adults, some juveniles and a few second years. Almost all second year birds summer well south of the breeding grounds. Bonaparte’s nest in spruce trees adjacent muskeg ponds and lakes. Common Tern, 7 on 4th at North Point and 5 on 6th at Little Piskwamish. Arctic Tern, 1 on 5th at North Point. Great Horned Owl (gray subspecies scalariventris in northern Ontario), two duetting regularly at Little Piskwamish. Northern Saw-whet-Owl, 1 singing in early morning on 7th at Little Piskwamish is near northern edge of breeding range, singing in August is very unusual. Common Nighthawk, 1 on 3rd at Little Piskwamish, 3 on 7th at Longridge. Olive-sided Flycatcher, 1 on 8th at Little Piskwamish and 1 on 9th at North Point. Gray Jay, pair with a dark juvenile around camp, usually one young bird stays with the adults for a year, juveniles are molting now or soon into formative plumage which is almost identical to the adult. Swallow migration at Little Piskwamish: Tree Swallow, 101 on 5th, Bank Swallow, 4 on 5th, Cliff Swallow, 1 on 7th, Barn Swallow, 1 on 7th. MARSH WREN, 1 singing in cattail marsh at Little Piskwamish, Godfrey (1986) in the Birds of Canada shows breeding and James (ROM 1991) reports “an isolated small colony” near North Point. European Starling, 80 mostly juveniles on 8th at Little Piskwamish, really odd to see a large flock at a wilderness location. WARBLERS at North Point in pre-migration flocks in Balsam Poplars included Tennessee, Orange-crowned (this species migrates much later than other warblers), female Cape May with 4 juveniles, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Palm, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Yellow-rumped, etc. Magnolia Warbler, 1 on 8th at Little Piskwamish. Nashville Warbler, 1 on 6th at Little Piskwamish. Connecticut Warbler on 6th giving partial song at Little Piskwamish, Nancy Wilson and Doug McRae (OMNR Report 1993) reported that Connecticuts were common in fens with Tamaracks near Moosonee. Sparrows: Le Conte’s last heard 6th, Nelson’s (2 heard 10th), Clay-colored and Savannah have stopped singing recently, White-throated Sparrows still singing. Rusty Blackbird, 1 on 8th. Common Grackle, 3 on 3rd at Little Piskwamish. Purple Finch, at least 1 daily at Little Piskwamish. White-winged Crossbill, 24 on 7th at North Point, 150 on 5th at Little Piskwamish, crossbills are moving south daily there even though White Spruce and Tamarack have excellent cone crops. MAMMALS: Belugas, 5 at North Point on 3 Aug. A unidentified bat on 5th at North Point flying around camp at dusk. Woodland Caribou and Moose tracks at Little Piskwamish. Large male Black Bear scavenging a Beluga carcass at Little Piskwamish. Red-backed Voles at Little Piskwamish camp, this is a forest vole whereas Meadow Vole is a field vole. No reports of Meadow Voles is reflected in only 2 sightings of Northern Harriers at North Point and absence of Short-eared Owls at all 3 survey locations. BUTTERFLIES: Western White (photos) at North Point on 6-8 Aug with high of 6 on 8th is only new butterfly since the last report. Western Whites also at Little Piskwamish. Bronze Copper, 6 nectaring and included a pair copulating on Mackenzie’s Water Hemlock (Cicuta virosa/mackenzieana) at North Point. The host plants (genus Rumex) are found along the coast. AMPHIBIANS: Frogs and toads were inconspicuous this summer because it was dry. After a good rain recently the crew at North Point heard Boreal Chorus Frogs and Spring Peepers and saw American Toads. FISH: Three-spined Stickleback. Mike McMurtry (OMNR) noted that there was a high mortality of this Species Of Concern as intertidal ponds dried this summer. NATURAL HERITAGE INFORMATION CENTRE (NHIC): The Red Knot survey is a multi-purpose inventory. Don Sutherland and Mike McMurtry are with the Natural Heritage Information Centre. The NHIC is part of OMNR involved with the inventory, monitoring and assessment of provincially rare plants and animals such as Red Knot, Yellow Rail and Short-eared Owl. Link to NHIC. http://nhic.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/nhic/about.cfm Map showing location of North Point in red. Little Piskwamish Point (not shown) is midway between North Point and Longridge Point. www.jeaniron.ca/2011/JamesBay2011/NorthPointmap.jpg ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Jean thanks an anonymous donor for financial assistance allowing her to make satellite calls so reports are available on the internet. Survey ends on Sunday 14 August. Jean and I will post a final report #5 and link to photos on her website when she returns home. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario Canada Subject: James Bay Shorebird Report #3 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2011 18:10:21 -0400 This is Jean Iron's third report via satellite phone for the period 26 July to 2 August 2011 from North Point on the southwestern coast of James Bay in Ontario. This report also incorporates sightings from Longridge Point and Little Piskwamish Point. Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) oversees surveys of the endangered rufa subspecies of the Red Knot and Yellow Rails. Surveys are a partnership of the ROM, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and Moose Cree First Nation. The North Point crew is Mike McMurtry (OMNR), Jean Iron and Aus Taverner. The Longridge crew is Mark Peck, Roy John, Emily Rondel and Antonio Coral. The Little Piskwamish crew is Don Sutherland (OMNR), Doug McRae, Barb Charlton and Ron Ridout. Little Piskwamish is about halfway between North Point and Longridge. Surveyors will be at all three sites until 14 August. SHOREBIRD OBSERVATIONS: 27 species to date. Juveniles of many species increasing. The high count day is listed for each species. Sightings refer to North Point unless stated otherwise. Black-bellied Plover: 3 on 29 July. Semipalmated Plover: 83 on 1 August included a banded individual with green on lower right and metal on lower left. Solitary Sandpiper: 4 on 26th at forest ponds at Longridge. Greater Yellowlegs: 392 on 27th. Lesser Yellowlegs: 867 on 27th, half juveniles on 2 August. Whimbrel: 1. Hudsonian Godwit: 327 molting and fattening adults on 27th. Marbled Godwit: 1 juvenile on 29th. Ruddy Turnstone: 52 adults on 29th. 250 adults at Longridge. RED KNOT: Famous knot TY on orange flag was still at North Point on 29th but moved about 35 km north to Longridge on 30th. Studies show that many shorebirds return to preferred local areas from year to year. 4990 on 1 Aug at Little Piskwamish, 3 with geolocators. 600 on 30th at Longridge with 190 sightings of individually marked birds. Smaller numbers at North Point with high of 220 on 2 August. The survey period mid July to mid August is timed to track the maximum number of marked adults. Data from flagged birds will give approximate ages and ratios of males to females. Researchers and birders will re-sight birds showing which populations use James Bay and their migration routes. Sanderling: 15 molting adults on 29th. SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER: This is peak adult migration time with 23,000 adults on 29 July at North Point exceeding the 14,147 on 21st. Southbound numbers at North Point are probably the largest in North America away from the upper Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. Both counts were with a combination of high tides and strong northeast winds concentrating the birds. First 3 juveniles on 29th. 4,500 on 31 July at Little Piskwamish. Least Sandpiper: 47 on 29th. Mostly juveniles, but still some adults on 2 August. White-rumped Sandpiper: Large numbers stage and fatten in southern James Bay. 7,710 molting adults at North Point on 29th and 9,300 on 1 August at Little Piskwamish. These large numbers are not seen south of James Bay indicating that they fly either to eastern Canada where they are common or more likely most of the James Bay population flies nonstop to South America. Baird's Sandpiper: 1 on 27 July at Longridge. Pectoral Sandpiper: 925 adults on 29th. Dunlin: 265 adults on 29th. Stilt Sandpiper: 1 adult on 26th at Longridge. Buff-breasted Sandpiper: 1 on 30 July at Longridge fide Mark Peck. American Woodcock: 1 on 1 Aug at Little Piskwamish. There are nearby records for Moosonee and Fort Albany. Wilson's Phalarope: 1 adult on 26th and 30th at Longridge. Red-necked Phalarope: 1 adult on 30th at Longridge. HUDSON BAY SHOREBIRDS: Ken Abraham (OMNR) reports "We worked on the coast from Shagamu River to the Pen Island area on 27-28 July and observed large numbers of shorebirds. Of note were several hundred Hudsonian Godwits, and lots of Pectoral, Semipalmated, White-rumped Sandpipers, Dunlins, both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs (seemed everywhere), Whimbrel and others. It was particularly nice to see two small flocks of Buff-breasted Sandpipers (14 in total) on 27 July foraging on berries and insects on a ridge along the Hudson Bay coast. The location was halfway between the Niskibi River and the Severn River at N56 16.646 W87 46.922. Other species included Killdeer, Semipalmated Plover, Short billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Snipe and Red-necked Phalarope. Absent from the list were Black-bellied Plover and American Golden-Plover." YELLOW RAIL: 1 ticking at Little Piskwamish on 30 July to 1 Aug, but none at North Point and Longridge because of dry coastal marshes which normally have a 10-20 cm depth of water. Ken Abraham heard a minimum of 2 Yellow Rails ticking loudly on 27 July at a freshwater marsh about 10 km inland from the outlet of the Niskibi River on Hudson Bay. OTHER BIRDS: Ken Abraham reports for the Hudson Bay coast of Ontario and Akimiski Island, Nunavut, in James Bay. "We banded over 3000 adult Canada Geese and over 5000 goslings, plus 500 adult Lesser Snow Geese and 800 goslings. We continue to be impressed by the number of bald eagles on the Hudson Bay coast with many (even most) being observed very near brood flocks of geese. I suspect they have become an increasing factor in the mortality of both goose species over the past decade. This year there were even several observations on Akimiski Island during the two weeks of banding in late July, which is unusual." Black Scoter, 400 molting males off Little Piskwamish. Double-crested Cormorant, 2 on 2 Aug at Little Piskwamish. Great Blue Heron on 2 Aug at Little Piskwamish. Ruffed Grouse drumming on 2 Aug. American White Pelicans, 71 in supplemental plumage on 2 August. Northern Harrier, adult female on 31st. Northern Goshawk, adult on 30th by Doug McRae. Merlin on 30th. Sora on 1 August at Little Piskwamish. Bonaparte's Gull, 350 on 31st at Longridge. Ring-billed Gull, 2 juveniles on 28th. Caspian Tern, 3 on 1 Aug at Little Piskwamish. Common Tern, 2 on 2 Aug. Arctic Tern, 2 on 2 August. Great Horned Owl hooting at Little Piskwamish. Northern Shrike, adult with 2 brownish juveniles at Longridge. Gray Jays regular around camp. Swallows migrating south. Tree Swallow, 28 on 28th. Bank Swallow on 29th and 31st. Cliff Swallow on 29th. Swainson's Thrush with young. American Robins eating Buffaloberries (Shepherdia canadensis). European Starling, 65 at Little Piskwamish were unusual. Cedar Waxwings eating Buffaloberries. Canada Warbler singing on 1 & 3 Aug at Little Piskwamish. Chipping Sparrow nest with young at Longridge. Clay-colored Sparrow nest with young at Longridge. Savannah Sparrow nest with eggs at Longridge. Savannah Sparrows abundant at North Point. Le Conte's Sparrows and Nelson's Sparrows (subspecies alterus) still singing. White-throated Sparrow on 31st eating Buffaloberries. Red-winged Blackbird, 31 on 2 Aug, 36 at Little Piskwamish. Common Grackle on 1 August. White-winged Crossbills, 33 on 29th. Excellent cone crop on White Spruce. Crossbills extracting seeds from green cones. Some singing suggests they may nest soon as cone crop ripens. Common Redpoll, 15 on 2 August at Little Piskwamish. MAMMALS: American Marten on 2 Aug. Beluga (White Whale) 6 on 29 July at North Point by Doug McRae and Barb Charlton. Two dead Belugas at Longridge. Cause of death unknown, but possibly individuals trapped in ice late last fall before they could migrate to leads and polynyas in Hudson Bay where some Belugas spend the winter. A Black Bear chewed a bar of Sunlight soap at Longridge; this fragrant yellow soap is an old camp favourite. On the Hudson Bay coast, Ken Abraham (OMNR) reports "There are a lot of Polar Bears ashore with several sighted 10-20 km inland in the fens." HERPTILES: Eastern Gartersnake: 1 on 31 July at Longridge. There are previous records for southern James Bay. American Toads of the colourful reddish Hudson Bay population and Wood Frogs are scarce this summer probably because of the very dry conditions. BUTTERFLIES: Two additions since last report from Barb Charlton are Common Branded Skipper and Silver-bordered Fritillary (photos). ODONATES: No new species since last report. Fewer dragonflies with the dry conditions. They are eating Bulldog Flies (Tabanidae) which pleases surveyors because these flies are aggressive biters. IMPORTANT NEW PUBLICATION: John Riley of the Nature Conservancy of Canada (formerly OMNR) has just published "Wetlands of the Hudson Bay Lowland - An Ontario Overview". A hard copy of this scholarly publication with excellent habitat photos is available from the author. John.Riley AT natureconservancy.ca Next update in a week. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario Canada Subject: James Bay Shorebird Report #2 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:17:53 -0400 This is Jean Iron’s second report via satellite phone for the period 20 - 26 July from North Point on the southwest coast of James Bay, Ontario. North Point is a vagrant trap - three examples are (1) the first Little Stint (adult male) for Ontario was collected there on 10 July 1979, (2) the only Ontario record of Common Poorwill was collected there on 4 June 1982 and (3) the only Ontario specimen of Western Wood-Pewee on 20 June 1984. This report includes limited information from Longridge Point. Surveys are a cooperative effort of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) and Moose Cree First Nation. The crew at North Point comprises Jean Iron, Doug McRae, Barbara Charlton and Kevin Hannah. The Longridge Point crew comprises Mark Peck, Roy John, Emily Rondel and Antonio Coral. SHOREBIRDS OBSERVATIONS: 21 species to date. Birds are adults unless noted otherwise. Counts done at high tide. Usually only the high count day for each species is given. Reports below are from North Point unless noted otherwise. Black-bellied Plover: 1 adult on 21st. American Golden-Plover: 1 adult on 22nd. Semipalmated Plover: 31 on 22nd. Killdeer: 1 on 21st. Spotted Sandpiper: 1 juvenile on 22nd. Greater Yellowlegs: 315 on 21st. Some eating sticklebacks (tiny fish). 250 at Longridge. Lesser Yellowlegs: 682 on 26th. First juvenile on 26th. 400 at Longridge. Whimbrel: 61 on 24th. 47 at Longridge. Hudsonian Godwit: 345 molting adults on 26th. 130 at Longridge. Marbled Godwit: 4 on 21st. Territorial nesting bird chases Common Ravens. Ruddy Turnstone: 16 adults on 21st. 11 at Longridge. RED KNOT: Longridge - 1100 adults on 23rd fide Mark Peck. North Point - 160 on 22nd including 33 flagged birds from the United States, Chile and Argentina. An exciting find was seeing a Red Knot (TY on orange flag) on 26 July at North Point. TY spent 18 days at Longridge last summer 2010. It was first banded in March 2006 in Argentina and photographed in August 2008 in Trinidad. An aerial survey by CWS in 2009 found large numbers of knots about midway between North Point and Longridge. Beginning on 30 July a third field crew will spend two weeks in this area known as Little Piskwamish Point. Sanderling: 87 molting and fading adults on 21st. 2 flagged birds on 23rd from Delaware Bay in the United States. SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER: 14,147 adults on 21 July. This count was at high tide combined with a strong northeast wind, which concentrated the birds. Colour-marking in the 1970s by Guy Morrison (CWS) at North Point showed that most Semipalmated Sandpipers using southern James Bay departed southeast to the Atlantic Coast before heading over the ocean to South America. Semipalmated Sandpipers passing through James Bay include many from the central and western Arctic based on banding, colour-marking and measurements. Least Sandpiper: 37 on 21st. White-rumped Sandpiper: 1117 molting adults on 26 July. Pectoral Sandpiper: 102 adults on 26th. 500 at Longridge. Dunlin: 127 on 26th. Short-billed Dowitcher: 1 juvenile on 24th. 6 at Longridge fide Mark Peck. Wilson's Snipe: 2 on 22nd still winnowing. Red-necked Phalarope: 1 adult on 23rd. SHOREBIRD FOODS: Shorebirds in Hudson and James Bays feed on the abundant larvae of the bivalve Macoma balthica (clam), and in southern James Bay the gastropod Hydrobia minuta (snail), as well as a variety of crustaceans (shrimps/crabs and allies), worms and dipteran (fly) larvae (Ontario Shorebird Conservation Plan 2003). SHOREBIRD MIGRATION: Flocks of high flying migrating shorebirds, some in V formations, were observed moving south in early evening presumably heading for the Atlantic Coast. YELLOW RAIL: Canada has about 90% of the Yellow Rail's breeding range. The coastal brackish marshes of James Bay probably have the largest breeding population of Yellow Rails in North America. They breed in marshes dominated by Chaffy Sedge (Carex paleacea) fide Don Sutherland (OMNR). The big news this summer is that crews have found no Yellows Rails at both North Point and Longridge Point where they are usually common. In July Yellow Rails "tick" incessantly and are easily detected. Marshes are very dry this summer at both North Point and Longridge. Yellow Rails may have moved farther north along James Bay and Hudson Bay where coastal conditions are more normal this summer. Or possibly the rails shifted to large freshwater fens well inland from the coast in the Hudson Bay Lowland fide Don Sutherland (OMNR). Also, OMNR's Terrestrial Biodiversity crews found Yellow Rails this summer near Big Trout Lake in northwestern Ontario fide Ken Abraham (OMNR) and Don Sutherland. OTHER BIRDS: In rough checklist order: Canada Goose - none at North Point, however, Kevin Hannah on 26 July walked 7.5 km north along the coast and found 2620 flightless Canadas including one with a white neck collar 3X57. American White Pelican, 26 on 24th, it recently began breeding on islands in James Bay. Sandhill Crane, 68 on 20th, the subspecies rowani breeds in the boreal forest. Merlin, adult male on 21 July caught a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Northern Harrier, adult male on 20th is the only report reflecting very low vole abundance. Bonaparte's Gull, 62 on 22nd were mostly year old nonbreeders plus some adults, 2 juveniles on 26th. Black Tern at Longridge fide Mark Peck. Arctic Tern, 1 adult on 21st and 3 on 22nd. Olive-sided Flycatcher, 1 on 19th was omitted from the previous report. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, 1 on 23rd. Northern Shrike, a juvenile on 22 July regurgitated a pellet composed mainly of beetle and insect exoskeletons. Similarly, Loggerhead Shrikes on the Carden Alvar in southern Ontario eat many beetles and other insects which form the bulk of their food during the warmer months. Gray Jay, adult and juvenile around camp. Boreal Chickadee feeding young on 24 and 25th. Brown Thrasher still there on 22nd. Northern Waterthrush, 2 on 24th. Clay-colored Sparrow, 1 on 22nd. 2 Le Conte’s Sparrow, 12 on 25th including one observed by Doug McRae doing an aerial display. Nelson’s Sparrow, 16 on 26th. Le Conte's and Nelson's Sparrows are singing and in the same general habitat. Both sparrows have moved more inland to moist pockets because coastal sedge marshes are very dry this summer. White-winged Crossbill: 20 on 24 July. MAMMALS: Single Black Bears at both North Point and Longridge camps. Solar powered electric fences surround food cabins at both sites. No Polar Bears - they are very rare south of Akimiski Island. Two Belugas (White Whales) at Longridge plus a dead one. An adult and 4 young Striped Skunks around North Point camp. BUTTERFLIES: Bronze Copper is new since last report. Correction to last report - change Pink-sided Sulphur (typo) to Pink-edged Sulphur thanks to Alan Wormington. He further said that "They might be Paleano Sulphurs, but it's hard to tell unless you know them well. Pelidne Sulphur should be there too, as well as Giant Sulphur - it's not large as the name implies." ODONATES: List from Kevin Hannah (CWS). In no particular order: Kennedy’s Emerald, Delicate Emerald, American Emerald , Four-spotted Skimmer, Emerald Spreadwing, White-faced Meadowhawk, Cherry-faced Meadowhawk, Sedge Darner, Subarctic Darner, Shadow Darner, Lake Darner, Canada Darner, Zigzag Darner, Variable Darner (nominate subspecies interrupta), Variable Darner (subspecies lineata). Kevin noted a large drop in numbers of odonates on 25-26 July which he attributed to the very dry conditions. Aerial photo showing location of North Point in red on southern James Bay. www.jeaniron.ca/2011/JamesBay2011/NorthPointmap.jpg Acknowledgements: I thank Ken Abraham and Don Sutherland of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for information. LITERATURE CITED: Ontario Shorebird Conservation Plan. 2003. Ross, K., and K. Abraham, R. Clay, B. Collins, J. Iron, R. James, D. McLachlin, R. Weeber. 48 pages. Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada. www.on.ec.gc.ca/wildlife/plans/pdf/plans-shorebird-e.pdf I'll post next update in a week. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario Canada Subject: James Bay Shorebird Report #1 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:04:15 -0400 This is Jean Iron's first report via satellite phone for the period 16 -19 July from North Point on the southwestern coast of James Bay, Ontario. North Point is about 25 km (15 miles) north of Moosonee and about 825 km (512 miles) north of Toronto, Ontario. James Bay is the southeastern extension of Hudson Bay reaching deep into eastern Canada between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec south to about 51 degrees north latitude. Its broad tidal flats, wide coastal marshes and islands are of hemispheric importance to southbound shorebirds and waterfowl migrating from the Canadian Arctic. Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto oversees the surveys of the endangered rufa subspecies of the Red Knot and other shorebirds. Yellow Rails are also being surveyed. Surveys are a cooperative venture of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), Moose Cree First Nation and ROM. This summer there are two main survey sites - Longridge and North Point. Longridge was also surveyed for Red Knots in 2009 and 2010, but this is the first year for North Point. The crew at North Point is Jean Iron, Doug McRae, Barbara Charlton and Kevin Hannah. The Longridge crew comprises Mark Peck, Roy John, Emily Rondel and Antonio Coral. GOOSE and SHOREBIRD BREEDING SUCCESS: Early reports from the central and eastern Arctic indicate that Lesser Snow Geese, Cackling Geese, Canada Geese and shorebirds are having a good nesting season. SHOREBIRDS: 16 species to date. Counts done at high tide. Usually only the high count day for each species is given. Reports below are from North Point unless otherwise noted. Black-bellied Plover: 1 adult on 17 July. Semipalmated Plover: 5 adults on 18th. Greater Yellowlegs: 332 adults on 18th. Greaters nest nearby in the Hudson Bay Lowland. Lesser Yellowlegs: 451 adults on 18th, 3 juveniles on 17th. Lessers nest nearby in the Hudson Bay Lowland. Whimbrel: 11 adults on 17th. Hudsonian Godwit: 176 adults on 17th. Marbled Godwit: 2 adults (pair) seen daily on nesting territory. There is a small isolated breeding population (about 1500 birds) on southern James Bay. Ruddy Turnstone: 1 adult on 18th. RED KNOT: 35 adults on 18 July. 1 flagged bird (lime green) on 18th probably from Delaware Bay, United States. About 10% of the rufa subspecies is marked. 300 adults at Longridge on 19th. Sanderling: 200 adults on 17th. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 6355 adults on 18th. Least Sandpiper: 27 adults on 18th. White-rumped Sandpiper: 3 adults on 17th. Numbers will increase soon. Pectoral Sandpiper: 246 adults on 18th. Dunlin: 86 adults on 18th. Thousands of Dunlins (subspecies hudsonia) stage in James Bay and undergo prebasic and preformative molts before resuming migration about mid September. This is why Dunlins are very rare south of the subarctic until much later than most shorebirds. Wilson's Snipe: 5. YELLOW RAIL: Coastal marsh conditions are very dry at North Point and no Yellow Rails heard to date. Conditions also dry at Longridge. However, Ken Abraham who is at Peawanuck on the Hudson Bay Coast reports that “Conditions are great here. The pond levels in the interior look good, while some nearer the coast are perhaps drier than average, but not significantly.” OTHER BIRDS: In rough checklist order: Canada Goose. 60 American Black Ducks. 276 Mallards. 1 Northern Pintail. 1 Green-winged Teal. 7 Common Goldeneyes. 5 Common Mergansers. 1 Black Scoter. 1 Common Loon. 1 Double-crested Cormorant. 1 Opsrey. 1 immature Bald Eagle. Northern Harrier and Short-eared Owl – no sightings of these two raptors indicate very low vole and mouse numbers. 76 Sandhill Cranes on 18th. 10 Bonaparte’s Gulls (7 adults, 3 second year birds – a few year old birds go to James Bay, but most summer well south of the breeding grounds). 2 Caspian Terns on 18th. 6 Common Terns on 19th. Alder Flycatcher. 10 Least Flycatchers reflecting the aspen forest around camp. Gray Jay. Boreal Chickadee. Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Swainson’s Thrush. Brown Thrasher on 18 and 19th; it is a regular vagrant along the coasts of Hudson and James Bays. 8 Cedar Waxwings on 16th. Tennessee Warbler carrying food. Black-and-white Warbler. American Redstart. Ovenbird singing daily at camp. Clay-colored Sparrow, 2 singing near camp, many birders are surprised that this scrubland sparrow breeds around James Bay. Le Conte’s Sparrow nest with 4 eggs on 17th. Nelson’s Sparrow. Common Grackle on 17th. A few Common Redpolls. 3 Pine Siskins on 18th. MAMMALS: One Black Bear is near camp, but it is behaving itself. A solar powered electric fence surrounds the food cabin. Around camp there is a Striped Skunk family, a Red Fox family and a young Snowshoe Hare. Vole and mouse numbers are very low. Similar low vole numbers on Akimiski Island, Nunavut. BUTTERFLIES: Old World Swallowtail, Orange Sulphur, Pink-sided Sulphur, Northern Spring Azure, Atlantis Fritillary, Northern Crescent, White Admiral, Viceroy and Common Ringlet. ODONATES: Kennedy’s Emerald on 17 July. Aerial photo showing location of North Point in red on southern James Bay. www.jeaniron.ca/2011/JamesBay2011/NorthPointmap.jpg Acknowledgements: The crews thank Ken Abraham, Rod Brook and Sarah Hagey of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for logistical support. I'll post several updates from Jean over the next month. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario Canada Subject: First Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks hatch in captivity From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:15:32 +0200 Some very cool news from WWT. Enjoy it. http://worldwaders.posterous.com/first-spoon-billed-sandpiper-chicks-hatch-in Best, Szimi ______________ Gyorgy Szimuly/WorldWaders Hungary Shorebird Mapping Project http://worldwaders.org/index.php Shorebird News Blog http://worldwaders.posterous.com Skype worldwaders.org Subject: Where are the Red Knots of the EAAF during spring and autumn migration? From: MobileMe <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:37:43 +0200 Dear Friends, Please help us finding the answer. http://worldwaders.posterous.com/where-are-the-red-knots-of-the-eaaf-during-sp In the article you can find contact details to report sightings. Best, Szimi ______________ Gyorgy Szimuly/WorldWaders Hungary Shorebird Mapping Project http://worldwaders.org/index.php Shorebird News Blog http://worldwaders.posterous.com Skype worldwaders.org Subject: No Subject From: Kevin Dailey <kedailey AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2011 04:23:18 -0700 .I hope you’ll enjoy everything here! http://lake1004.com/friends.page.php?iID=49ux2 Subject: Aerial surveys do not reliably survey boreal-nesting shorebirds - pdf From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2011 13:04:53 -0400 We have copied the abstract below and attached a pdf from recent paper published in The Canadian Field-Naturalist, which is a peer-reviewed journal. Citation: Elliott, Kyle H., Paul A. Smith, and Victoria H. Johnston. 2010. Aerial surveys do not reliably survey boreal-nesting shorebirds. Canadian Field-Naturalist 124(2): 145-150. Abstract: Aerial surveys have been used as a method for surveying boreal-nesting shorebirds, which breed in difficult-to-access terrain; however, the fraction of breeding birds observed from the air is unknown. We investigated rates of detection by conducting simultaneous air and ground surveys for shorebirds at three sites in the boreal forest of the Northwest Territories, Canada, in 2007. Helicopter surveys included both pond-based surveys and where the helicopter flew around the perimeter of each wetland and transect-based surveys where observers recorded birds seen on line transects. Ground surveys involved intensive observation, territory mapping and nest searching in 5 square kilometers of plots over a period of 5-6 weeks. Shorebird densities observed from the helicopter were highest near large bodies of water. No shorebirds were observed over closed forest despite breeding densities on ground surveys being highest in closed forest. Detection rates were very low, varied among species and aerial survey types, and were inconsistent over time. Ground-based observations showed that the shorebirds often did not flush in response to the helicopter passing overhead. Owing to poor rates of detection, we conclude that helicopter surveys are not an appropriate method for surveying breeding shorebirds in boreal habitats, but may have some utility for monitoring birds' use of stop-over locations. Allow a few seconds for the pdf to load. www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/article/viewFile/1053/1057 Ron Pittaway and Jean Iron Minden and Toronto, Ontario Subject: Survey on shorebird hunting - Now with correct link to English versio From: "Arne J. Lesterhuis" <arne_j_lesterhuis AT YAHOO.CO.UK> Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 21:06:42 +0100 Hi again! I was notified by Khara Strum that the link I gave for the English version of the survey is wrong, which is indeed so! The correct link for english version is now given below. Sorry for the confusion! Subject: Hunting on Migratory and Wintering Shorebird Populations in Latin America and the Caribbean Legal and illegal hunting of shorebirds occurs throughout their annual ranges.  However, shorebird biologists generally lack adequate information to determine if hunting pressure could negatively affect shorebirds at a population level.  To begin to unravel this complex question, we are seeking any information on shorebird hunting throughout Latin America and the Caribbean and hope you can help us out. The survey will only take a few minutes of your time. All sources will be kept confidential.  Thank you for your interest! Brad Andres (USFWS), David Wege (BirdLife-Caribbean), Anthony Levesque (SCSCB) and Arne Lesterhuis (BirdLife-Americas)   LINK: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Shorebird_hunting_LAC  Subject: Emergency mission to save remarkable bird from extinction From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2011 13:49:23 +0200 Dear Friends, Please find the latest article on Spoon-billed Sandpiper in WorldWaders News: http://worldwaders.posterous.com Support the project if you can to reach the target. Best, Szimi __________ György Szimuly/WorldWaders Tata, Hungary Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: Survey on shorebird hunting - please participate From: "Arne J. Lesterhuis" <arne_j_lesterhuis AT YAHOO.CO.UK> Date: Thu, 2 Jun 2011 01:25:14 +0100 Hi all/ Estimados todos  (español abajo) Hunting on Migratory and Wintering Shorebird Populations in Latin America and the CaribbeanLegal and illegal hunting of shorebirds occurs throughout their annual ranges.  However, shorebird biologists generally lack adequate information to determine if hunting pressure could negatively affect shorebirds at a population level. To begin to unravel this complex question, we are seeking any information on shorebird hunting throughout Latin America and the Caribbean and hope you can help us out. The survey will only take a few minutes of your time.All sources will be kept confidential.  Thank you for your interest! Brad Andres (USFWS), David Wege (BirdLife-Caribbean), Anthony Levesque (SCSCB) and Arne Lesterhuis (BirdLife-Americas) LINK FOR ENGLISH VERSION OF SURVEY: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Caza_AvesPlayeras_LAC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------La caza de poblaciones de aves playeras migratorias en América Latina y el CaribeLa caza legal o ilegal de aves playeras ocurre en todo su rango de distribución  anual. Sin embargo, los biólogos de aves playeras  generalmente carecen de información adecuada para determinar si la presión de la caza  afecta negativamente las poblaciones de aves playeras a nivel poblacional.Para comenzar a esclarecer  esta compleja pregunta, estamos buscando toda la información sobre la caza de aves playeras a través de América Latina y el Caribe, y esperamos que nos pueda ayudar. La encuesta solo tomará unos minutos de su tiempo para completarla.El origen de la información se mantendrá confidencial.  Gracias por su interés! Brad Andres (USFWS), David Wege (BirdLife-Caribe), Anthony Levesque (SCSCB) y Arne Lesterhuis (BirdLife-Américas) LINK PARA ENCUESTA EN ESPAÑOL: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Caza_AvesPlayeras_LAC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Arne J. Lesterhuis Asunción, ParaguaySkyper: arne.lesterhuis  **********************************************************************The Brights; illuminating and elevating the naturalistic worldviewThe Brights' Net is an international internet constituency of individuals who have a naturalistic worldview. You can visit the Brights homepage to learn more: http://www.the-brights.net   Subject: Global wader news From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Fri, 27 May 2011 19:46:02 +0200 Dear Shorebird Addicts, Please find some great news articles on various topics including sad news on 'rufa' Red Knot population drop and new findings of Great Snipe migration. http://worldwaders.posterous.com/ Should you have any article to share the WorldWaders' readers please send it to me or post it directly (ask for know-how). Best, Szimi __________ György Szimuly Tata, Hungary Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: Banded Whimbrel - Jacksonville, FL From: Kevin Dailey <kedailey AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:51:05 -0700 Today I observed a banded Whimbrel at 'Spoonbill Pond' in NE Jacksonville (across A1A from the Big Talbot Island boat ramp). The upper left band was a white flag with 'CM' code, and the lower left was a plain blue band. Nothing on the right leg. There were three Whimbrels present, along with 1 each Least Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, and Semipalmated Sandpiper. Also present were ~75 Short billed Dowitcher, 100+ Semipalmated Plovers, and 22 Black bellied Plovers. I reported the banded Whimbrel to http://report.bandedbirds.org/, and from what I can tell the blue band indicates Brazil. If anyone knows what the 'CM' represents, I'd be curious to know. Thanks, Kevin Dailey Jacksonville, FL USA Subject: "Hope" the Whimbrel Migrates to back to Virginia From: Fletcher Smith <fmsmit AT WM.EDU> Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:31:50 -0400 The odyssey of Hope, a whimbrel carrying a satellite transmitter, continues to amaze scientists. Hope was originally captured on 19 May, 2009 on the southern Delmarva Peninsula of Virginia. She left Virginia on May 26 and since that time has logged more than 21,000 miles (33,000 kilometers) flying between a breeding territory on the MacKenzie River near Alaska and a winter territory on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. On Friday (8 April, 2011), Hope returned to Virginia following a 75 hour, 1,850 mile (2,900 kilometer) flight out over the Atlantic Ocean. During the course of two full migration cycles, Hope has clearly demonstrated how distant locations are interconnected in the life of migratory species and how their conservation requires collaboration on a multi-national scale. For three consecutive springs, Hope has returned to the same creek in Virginia where she has fed on fiddler crabs preparing for a transcontinental flight to her breeding grounds. The creek, located in the the Nature Conservancy’s Virginia Coast Reserve, is part of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, a network of international sites considered critical to populations of declining shorebirds. Hope’s breeding grounds on the MacKenzie River are part of an International Important Bird Area and one of the areas of highest conservation value in Canada. Efforts are ongoing to protect the area considered by many to be one of the most pristine watersheds remaining in North America. For the past 2 years, Hope has wintered at Great Pond, a Birdlife International Important Bird Area on St. Croix. Protection of long-distance migrants like Hope requires that countries recognize the importance of vulnerable populations and work together toward effective conservation solutions. Hope is one of several birds that have been fitted with state of the art 9.5-gram, satellite transmitters in a collaborative effort by the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary – Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Coast Reserve of The Nature Conservancy to discover migratory routes that connect breeding and winter areas and to identify en route migratory staging areas that are critical to the conservation of this declining species. Updated tracking maps may be viewed online. http://www.ccb-wm.org/programs/migration/Whimbrel/whimbrel.htm Satellite tracking represents only one aspect of a broader, integrated investigation of whimbrel migration. During the past 4 years, the Center for Conservation in partnership with The Nature Conservancy has used conventional transmitters to examine stopover duration, conducted aerial surveys to estimate seasonal numbers, collected feather samples to locate summer and winter areas through stable-isotope analysis, and has initiated a whimbrel watch program. Continued research is planned to further link populations across staging, breeding, and wintering areas. Funding has been provided by The Nature Conservancy, the Center for Conservation Biology, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The Toronto Ornithological Club, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the Willow Beach Field Naturalists, and the Northern Neck Audubon Society. Subject: Yahoo! Auto Response From: Nathan Dias <offshorebirder AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011 05:25:44 +0000 * I am no longer reading email sent to offshorebirder AT yahoo.com Due to unreliable service (too many missing emails to/from Yahoo Mail accounts), I am at least temporarily discontinuing use of this account. Please use my other account - offshorebirder[-at-]gmail.com instead. Thanks. Subject: Use of playback for boreal-nesting shorebirds and other techniques for surveying? From: "Friis,Christian [Ontario]" <Christian.Friis AT EC.GC.CA> Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2011 10:39:21 -0500 Hi Folks, I'm interested in learning about the experiences of anyone who may have used playback for surveying boreal-nesting shorebirds, as well as other techniques that you may have used (atlassing, aerial surveys, point counts and so on). I'm trying to build a repertoire of techniques that could be used this coming field season in Ontario (Canada) to improve our capacity to determine status and trends, among other questions, of species like Solitary Sandpiper, both yellowlegs, and both dowitchers that nest in low density across the boreal forest. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Regards, Christian Christian A. Friis Canadian Wildlife Service Environment Canada 4905 Dufferin St. Toronto ON M3H 5T4 christian.friis AT ec.gc.ca Telephone 416.739.4908 Mobile 647.882.6097 Facsimile 416.739.5845 Government of Canada Website www.on.ec.gc.ca/wildlife Christian A. Friis Service canadien de la faune Environnement Canada 4905, rue Dufferin Toronto ON M3H 5T4 christian.friis AT ec.gc.ca Téléphone 416.739.4908 Cellulaire 647.882.6097 Télécopieur 416.739.5845 Gouvernement du Canada Site Web www.on.ec.gc.ca/wildlife Subject: Please support this idea From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:13:06 +0100 Hi Friends, Please, have a look at this article and vote. http://worldwaders.posterous.com/vote-to-give-a-chance-for-the-incomparable-sp Thanks, Szimi __________ Gyorgy Szimuly Tata, Hungary Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: RFI: Colour-ringed Tereks in Asia From: Gerd Rotzoll <Gerd.Rotzoll AT T-ONLINE.DE> Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:45:12 +0200 Hi, does anybody know who is colour-ringing Terek Sandpipers in Asia and who should be contacted for observations? Regards, Gerd Rotzoll Subject: Literature collection From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:35:20 +0200 WorldWaders has just announced a new service for shorebird conservationists, researchers or anyone else who works with papers. The service focuses of reaching easily published articles of waders from a single site. The site not only lists papers but allows downloading them. This is a BETA version and we are working on known issues as well as on other improvements. Feel free to try it and add your articles to make it bigger. We are continuously add new articles. http://worldwaders.org/index.php?modul=resources Sign up via this link: http://worldwaders.org/index.php?modul=newliterature&o=12&kezd=0 Best to all, Szimi __________ Gyorgy Szimuly Tata, Hungary Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: Shorebird News From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:18:26 +0200 Dear All, This news might be of interest to most of you: http://worldwaders.posterous.com/important-staing-site-identified-in-east-turk. For previous news please visit http://worldwaders.posterous.com. We are continuously seeking for new contributors and authors for adding new shorebird related news items even from uncovered parts of the world. If you have something in your pocket, please drop me a line and we schedule its publication. Best to all, Szimi __________ Gyorgy Szimuly Tata, Hungary Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: Azores peep: the verdict From: Dominic Mitchell <dominic.mitchell AT YAHOO.CO.UK> Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 17:01:52 +0000 Hi all Last week I posted on this group about the ID of a small calidrid photographed on the Azores in October 2007, soliciting opinions. Views were pretty much divided along two clear lines, and I've now posted a summary, together with my own opinion (which has changed) and more images, on www.birdingetc.com. Thanks to all those who commented (click on comments below the original post to view them). Rgds Dominic Mitchell -- www.birdingetc.com http://twitter.com/LondonBirds www.birdwatch.co.uk Subject: Azores peep: ID debated From: Dominic Mitchell <dominic.mitchell AT YAHOO.CO.UK> Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2010 13:47:24 +0000 Hi all There has been debate elsewhere recently about the identification of assorted Calidrids on the Azores, where Little Stint is a scarce migrant, Semipalmated Sandpiper is a rarer visitor in autumn (about half as many records) and Western Sandpiper is a less-than-annual vagrant. I have seen a number of Semipalmated Sandpipers in the islands, which are the most westerly outpost of the Western Palearctic, and at least two Little Stints, as well as another small but rather long-billed calidrid. It is the identity of this last bird which I'm currently soliciting opinions about; see the image on my blog at www.birdingetc.com. Comments left so far favour Western over Semipalmated (with one for Dunlin); I'd welcome more input from the seasoned shorebird observers on this list as to what they think it is and why, so comments on the blog would be welcome. Thanks Dominic Mitchell -- www.birdingetc.com http://twitter.com/LondonBirds www.birdwatch.co.uk Subject: Western or White-rumped Sandipiper? - James Bay Photos From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:42:30 -0400 There is now full agreement by experts on the ID-Frontiers listserv that the unidentified sandpiper mentioned in James Bay Shorebirds report #6 on 23 August 2010 is a White-rumped Sandpiper. Here are photos showing variation in White-rumped Sandpipers from James Bay. See details in captions. http://www.jeaniron.ca/2010/JamesBay2010/whiterumpedvariation.htm Original two photos of bird under discussion. http://www.jeaniron.ca/2010/JamesBay2010/longridge2.htm Jean Iron & Ron Pittaway Toronto & Minden, Ontario Subject: James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #6 - Photos From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:05:29 -0400 This is my sixth and final report for the period 14-17 August 2010 at Longridge Point on southern James Bay. The crew returned home on 18 August. I was a volunteer surveying the endangered rufa subspecies of the Red Knot and other shorebirds under the direction of Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum. Other crew members were Don Sutherland, Mike McMurtry, Doug McRae, Lisa Pollock, Christian Friis and Ray Ford. Click link at bottom for 6 pages of photos and observations from this year's survey. SHOREBIRD OBSERVATIONS: For most species only the high count day is given in checklist order. Black-bellied Plover: 71 on 15 August - all adults molting from alternate to basic plumage. We did not see juveniles, which normally begin arriving in James Bay in late August and early September. American Golden-Plover: 2 on 14 August - all adults molting from alternate to basic plumage. Juveniles normally start arriving in James Bay in late August and early September. Semipalmated Plover: 176 on 15 August - 1/2 juveniles. Killdeer: 17 on 15 August - 1/2 juveniles Spotted Sandpiper: 17 on 15 August - 2 adults in full alternate plumage, 15 juveniles. Greater Yellowlegs: 214 on 16 August - more than 1/2 juveniles. Adults were molting from alternate to basic plumage. Many adults were in wing molt suggesting that a good number of adults undergo a complete prebasic molt in James Bay before continuing south. Of those adult shorebird species that molt during migration, most molt only body feathers and delay wing molt until reaching the wintering grounds. Lesser Yellowlegs: 454 on 16 August - mostly juveniles. Whimbrel: 14 unaged birds on 16 August. Hudsonian Godwit: 556 molting adults on 13 August and 448 on 15 August. No juveniles as of the 16th. They should arrive soon. Most adults depart James Bay by early September whereas the juveniles remain well into September. Marbled Godwit: 5 juveniles on 12 August were the last sightings. Ruddy Turnstone: 994 on 16 August. Mostly adults with only a few juveniles. RED KNOT: 705 on 14 August, 1989 on 15th and 994 on 16th. Most were adults with about 8-10% juveniles. Many adults were bright red suggesting that they were recently arrived males from the breeding grounds. On 15th at high tide, knots flew in late evening to the tip of Longridge to roost for the night. Sanderling: 153 molting adults on 15 August. First juvenile on 16 August. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 4300 mostly juveniles on 16 August. WESTERN SANDPIPER? Doug McRae photographed a possible adult on 10 August. See 2 photos on page 2 of website via link below. We sent the photos out for opinions. One reviewer said, "White-rumped is a reasonable conclusion. I don't see anything obviously wrong. The rufous bird in the second photo has the same bulk and same outline as the White-rumped to its left." Readers are invited to comment. There is one previous report of Western Sandpiper from James Bay. Least Sandpiper: 222 on 15 August. Most were juveniles except for a few adults. White-rumped Sandpiper: This is most common shorebird at Longridge. 6650 molting adults on 16 August. Some recent arrivals (males?) were still in worn alternate plumage. The west coast of James Bay is a critical stopover site for White-rumps to fatten and molt before migrating to the wintering grounds in southern South America. The first juveniles begin arriving in late August. Pectoral Sandpiper: 252 on 15 August. Pectorals are not on the tidal mudflats. They prefer short and medium height grassy areas. Dunlin: 141 adults on 16 August. BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER: 1 adult on 15 August, 2 adults and 4 (first) juveniles on 16th. Short-billed Dowitcher: 5 juveniles on 15 August Wilson's Snipe: 35 on 16 August. Wilson's Phalarope: 1 molting juvenile on 15 and 16 August. Red-necked Phalarope: 3 juveniles on 16 August. OTHER BIRDS: Little Gull, 3 molting adults and 1 molting into second basic plumage on 16 August. Black Tern, 1 adult on 16 August. Common and Arctic Terns, 18 adults and juveniles on 16 August. After checking many small terns, we conclude that Common Terns are more frequent than previously believed. Great Horned Owl, 2 duetting on 15 and 16 August. Common Nighthawk, 1 on 14 August. Eastern Kingbird, 3 on 16 August and 1 on 17 August. Tree Swallow, 152 on 15 August and 321 on 16 August. Bank Swallow. 31 on 15 August and 62 on 16 August. Cliff Swallow, 18 on 15 August and 80 on 16 August. Barn Swallow, 1 on 15 and 16 August. SWIFT, one was seen on 16 August by Doug McRae and Don Sutherland during a major swallow migration. It had a distinct whitish throat and contrasting pale rump strongly suggesting a Vaux's Swift (no Ontario records) from western North America. The observers are confident that it was not a Chimney Swift, which breeds farther south in Ontario. They will file reports with the Ontario Bird Records Committee. HAWK FLIGHTS: Two significant flights were observed along the coast during southwest winds on 15 and 16 August. Hawks were moving south along Longridge Point. Northern Harrier, 12 adults and juveniles on 15 August and 11 on 16th. Sharp-shinned Hawk, 2 juveniles on 15 August and 1 juvenile on 16th. Northern Goshawk, 1 adult and 3 juveniles on 15 August. Broad-winged Hawk, 1 adult and 6 juveniles on 15 August; 15 on 16th, over half the birds seen well enough to age were juveniles. Red-tailed Hawk, 1 adult, 2 juveniles and 1 unaged bird on 16 August. Merlin, 13 on 16 August. Peregrine Falcon, 3 juveniles and 1 unaged bird on 16 August. BUTTERFLIES: One new species since last report is Hoary Comma on 15 August. DRAGONFLIES: Two new species since last report are Taiga Bluet and White-faced Meadowhawk on 15 August. ONTARIO SHOREBIRD CONSERVATION PLAN. www.on.ec.gc.ca/wildlife/plans/pdf/plans-shorebird-e.pdf SNOW AND ICE COVER MAP shows James Bay reaching deep into central Canada. www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_usa.gif MAP OF SOUTHERN JAMES BAY. Yellow pointer shows location of Longridge Point. Ontario borders the west coast of James Bay and Quebec borders the east coast. Provincial boundaries extend to the low water mark on James Bay. Offshore islands extending to the low water mark are in Nunavut Territory. The waters and seabed of James Bay are internal parts of Canada under exclusive federal jurisdiction and not part of Ontario, Quebec or Nunavut. www.jeaniron.ca/2009/James-Bay-2009-REKN.jpg PHOTOS OF SHOREBIRDS AND SURVEYORS. www.jeaniron.ca/2010/JamesBay2010/index.htm Jean Iron and Ron Pittaway Toronto, Ontario Canada Subject: Re: banded Semipalmeted Sandpiper From: DJ Lauten and KACastelein <deweysage AT VERIZON.NET> Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:05:59 -0700 Not strange at all Anthony, that is a standard US Fish and Wildlife Service band. The "open" means that if the bird was found dead, open the band up and on the inside is the address of where to send it. I've always thought this was a bit silly, as I do not think it is very clear that "open" means that, but that's the way it is done. If you take the number off the band, and go to the Bird Banding Lab webpage (search and you will quickly find it), there is a "report a band" link and they will get back to you with the info as to where the bird was originally banded. Hope that helps Cheers Dave Lauten Oregon Biodiversity Information Center deweysage AT verizon.net Anthony Levesque wrote: > Dear all, > > yesterday night we caught a banded Sandpiper in Guadeloupe (French West Indies) but we have no idea of its origin... > > on the (metal) band we can read "ABRE" "OPEN" and a number, a strange band... > > Is somebody can help us? it would be very much appreciated > > Best Regards > > Anthony Levesque > > > Subject: banded Semipalmeted Sandpiper From: Anthony Levesque <anthony.levesque AT WANADOO.FR> Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:22:20 -0400 Dear all, yesterday night we caught a banded Sandpiper in Guadeloupe (French West Indies) but we have no idea of its origin... on the (metal) band we can read "ABRE" "OPEN" and a number, a strange band... Is somebody can help us? it would be very much appreciated Best Regards Anthony Levesque Subject: 31 shorebird spp. at 2 sites in South Carolina last Friday From: Nate Dias <offshorebirder AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:02:33 -0700 I aborted a 'Shorebird Big Day' in coastal South Carolina this past Friday (August 13) but still managed to see 31 shorebird species by noon. I began the day at the eastern tip of Kiawah Island, where a Snowy Plover (local rarity) had been recently reported. The Snowy Plover was still present - I hope it will stay a bit. Other shorebirds at 'Sandy Point' were: Piping Plovers, Wilson's Plovers, Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, American Oystercatchers, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Willet, Spotted Sandpipers, Whimbrel, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot (none flagged), Sanderling, Semipalmated + Western + Least Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitchers and Dunlin. (20 species) A similar but shorter list of species was across a small inlet on the beach in front of the 'Ocean Course' golf course. But the really neat shorebird spectacle at Kiawah yesterday was the driving range at the Ocean Course (southeastern corner of Kiawah). Despite a lack of standing water, it had good numbers and variety - even after 9am. 31 Pectoral Sandpipers, 1 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER, 1 UPLAND SANDPIPER, 1 White-rumped Sandpiper, all three regular 'Peep' species, a few dozen Semipalmated Plovers, and 22 Black-bellied Plovers. Two Ruddy Turnstones feeding on shortgrass turf was a funny sight - one was still in alternate plumage. 30+ Killdeer were the bully boys of the scene. 7 Spotted Sandpipers foraged and chased each other on the driving range turf at the far end from the golfers - right up against the shore of the small tidal cove beyond. ** If you ever get a chance to bird east Kiawah the morning after a rain during fall migration, start early at the Ocean Course driving range. You might see an amazing shorebird spectacle - puddles on the driving range draw them from all over. After Kiawah Island, I headed south to Bear Island Wildlife Management Area. Although most of the waterfowl impoundments (former ricefields) there were fully flooded, there was one that was partly lowered, with some mudflats and shorebird habitat. Friday those mudflats had dozens of Greater and a few Lesser Yellowlegs, a couple of dozen Short-billed Dowitchers, at least one Long-billed Dowitcher, 3 Stilt Sandpipers, Black-bellied Plovers, lots of Semipalmated Plovers, Least Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers, unidentified 'Peeps', Black-necked Stilts, and Solitary Sandpiper. Elsewhere at Bear I had American Avocets and Wilson's Snipe and more of the shorebirds already mentioned. At this point I wish I had driven to a Sod Farm and picked up American Golden-Plover... I might try a big day run soon that consists of Friday's route, plus a couple of Sod Farms, then a race to Cape Romain NWR to use a boat to try to see the wintering Long-billed Curlews that arrived in late July (right on schedule). Nathan Dias - Charleston, South Carolina, USA Subject: James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #5 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 19:52:48 -0400 This is Jean Iron's fifth report by satellite phone for the period 7-13 August 2010 from Longridge Point, Ontario, on southern James Bay. The Red Knot and shorebird survey are led by Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum. Partners are the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Trent University and the Canadian Wildlife Service. SHOREBIRD OBSERVATIONS: For most species only the high count day is given below in checklist order. Date for the first juveniles are noted. Black-bellied Plover: 163 molting adults on 9 August, some mostly in alternate plumage, others well molted to basic plumage. American Golden-Plover: 9 molting adults on 8 August. Semipalmated Plover: 237 mostly adults on 9 August, first juvenile on 8th. No banded birds. Killdeer: 39 on 9 August. Spotted Sandpiper: 1 juvenile on 10 August. Solitary Sandpiper: 2 juveniles on 9 August. Greater Yellowlegs: 130 on 9 August, 60 percent juveniles. Slow shift from adults to juveniles. Lesser Yellowlegs: 572 mostly juveniles on 9 August. Rapid shift from adults to juveniles. Whimbrel: 52 adults on 6 August with numbers dropping off. Hudsonian Godwit: 970 molting adults on 9 August. James Bay is the most important southbound staging area for Hudsonian Godwits. Marbled Godwit: 8 juveniles on 7 August and 7 on 9th. Small numbers breed on Akimiski Island and in the prairie-like marshes of southwestern James Bay. Ruddy Turnstone: 604 mostly adults on 10 August, first juvenile on 5th. RED KNOT: 1382 molting adults on 6 August, adult numbers dropped off with 178 on 7th increasing to 672 on 13th. First juvenile knot on 9 August, 8 on 13th. Sanderling: 36 molting adults on 13 August. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 4715 mostly juveniles on 10 August. Rapid shift from adults to juveniles. WESTERN SANDPIPER: 1 adult was seen by Doug McRae. Least Sandpiper: 264 juveniles on 9 August, 1 adult on 13th. Rapid shift from adults to juveniles. White-rumped Sandpiper: 7541 molting adults on 10 August. Juveniles are late migrants. Baird's Sandpiper: 1 juvenile on 8 August was the first and another on 13th. Pectoral Sandpiper: 695 adults on 9 August, first juvenile on 8th. Dunlin: 127 mostly adults on 13 August, first juveniles (2) on 10th. Stilt Sandpiper: 2 molting adults on 9 August. Short-billed Dowitcher: 12 juveniles on 9 August. Rapid shift from adults to juveniles. Wilson's Snipe: 10 on 10 August. Wilson's Phalarope: 4 juveniles on 7 August and 6 juveniles on 8th. Small numbers breed in the prairie-like marshes of James Bay. Red-necked Phalarope: 8 on 7 August included 5 molting adults and 3 juveniles. OTHER BIRDS: This is not a complete list. Brant, 1, probably summered on James Bay. Canada Goose. Gadwall. American Wigeon. American Black Duck. Mallard. Northern Shoveler. Northern Pintail. Green-winged Teal. Greater Scaup. Lesser Scaup. Surf Scoter. White-winged Scoter. Black Scoter, 1042 mostly molting males on 10 August was only day with high numbers. Bufflehead. Common Goldeneye. Common Merganser. Red-breasted Merganser. Double-crested Cormorant. American Bittern, 2 on 10 and 11 August. Great Blue Heron. Bald Eagle. Northern Harrier. Merlin, family group of 2 adults and 3 juveniles hunting shorebirds. American Kestrel, 1 juvenile or female on 13 August. Yellow Rail, last heard actively ticking on 10 August. Little Gull, 1 that has almost completed its molt to second basic plumage. Bonaparte's Gull, 1647 molting adults on 9 August and only 10-12 juveniles, the low number of juveniles suggests that many are still on the breeding grounds or have migrated south. Common and Arctic Terns feeding juveniles with a ratio of 13 Common to 8 Arctic. Caspian Tern, 5 or 6 most days. Parasitic Jaeger, 2 light morph adults on 10 and 11 August. Long-eared Owl, 4 on 6 August were probably a family group. Short-eared Owl is seen regularly over the marshes. Common Nighthawk, 1 on 9 August. Black-backed Woodpecker, 1 on 13 August. Western Meadowlark, 1 probable on 8 August, photos taken which will be examined later. Le Conte's and Nelson's Sparrows, singing has dropped off noticeably to almost no song now. White-winged Crossbill, 49 on 9 August. Common Redpoll, 8 on 7 August. HUDSON BAY REPORT: The following report is from Ken Abraham of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. "The melt was very early this year. The phenology of goose nesting seems to have responded accordingly with a very early laying and hatch. Nest success in our study areas was below average because of very high predation rates. I wasn't in a position to get any evidence of duck or swan reproduction this year. We did not do a survey of molting scoters this year, so I have no explanation for the lack of scoters off Longridge Point. We've been speculating about possible differences in weather patterns, winds or water temperatures, but we don't have any data. I was on Southampton Island from July 20-30. I spent a week at East Bay and a few days in Coral Harbour doing vegetation surveys and trying to evaluate the role of geese in the changes that have occurred there in the last 30 years. All four species of geese (snows, cackling, brant and Ross's) seemed to have a good year with nest success in the 60-80% range for the first three and relatively early hatching; brood sizes ranged from 1-5 but seemed to average about 2. We had a couple of broods of Red Knots with half grown chicks at the beginning of that period. We also saw several broody White-rumped Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones. Those broods would probably have fledged sometime near the end of July or the first week of August. The King Eiders had broods, but the number of young in the creches seemed to be fairly low. We saw a few flocks of Whimbrels but according to the crew who had been there, they were the first of the summer so they may have been post breeding." MAMMALS: Beluga, 2 adults on 13 August, Mike McMurtry took a tissue sample from dead young Beluga for DNA and toxicology analyses. A melanistic Red Fox on 11 August. Few small mammals are being seen, but sightings of Northern Harriers, Short-eared and Long-eared Owls, suggest that voles and/or shrews are present in sufficient numbers or they're also eating birds. Red Squirrel. BUTTERFLIES: New species since the last report are Orange Sulphur, Pink-edged Sulphur, Palaeno Sulphur, Bog Copper and Summer Azure. Don Sutherland reports that butterfly diversity is low this summer, which he attributes to variable and wet weather. DRAGONFLIES: A sample: Cherry-faced Meadowhawk, Black Meadowhawk, Canada Darner, Sedge Darner. Southern James Bay map shows location of Longridge Point www.jeaniron.ca/2010/longridgemap.jpg Next report will be about 10 days when Jean is home. The crew was to fly out to Moosonee on 15 August, but the helicopter was delayed in Ungava. They are now expected to be picked up on the 17th depending on the weather. The next day they take the 5 hour train ride from Moosonee to Cochrane where they will overnight. Then on the third day it's a 10 hour drive to Toronto and Peterborough. Their trip reminds me of the 1987 comedy movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" starring Steve Martin and John Candy. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario Canada Subject: poss. Common Ringed Plover From: DJ Lauten and KACastelein <deweysage AT VERIZON.NET> Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 07:40:24 -0700 Folks, I have nothing to do with this, except I got this email today because someone knows I love shorebirds (and plovers in particular), and so I thought I would pass it along. Pretty good photos. "An interesting sighting for you shorebird types. Not sure if you saw this report (I'm not sure where the observer sent the photos for an opinion), but thought you would be interested. I'm working in Maine at the moment, so I check the Maine birding list every day. http://maineoutdoorjournal.mainetoday.com/blogentry.html?id=20547 Barry " Cheers Dave Lauten not in Maine, in Oregon....... deweysage AT verizon.net Subject: SNPL From: Patrick Leary <prleary AT BELLSOUTH.NET> Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2010 15:21:49 -0400 Members on the SE Atlantic coast should be alert for Snowy Plover. Over the (7-8 August) weekend, juv. SNPL have been sighted on the south river shore of Cumberland Island, GA and ca 15 miles to the south on Lt. Talbot Island, Duval Co., FL. The GA sighting (a lone juvenile) is just the third record for that state, while the sightings (two juveniles together) in NE Florida are less noteworthy save for the early August date. At least one adult SNPL has been recorded in Nassau Sound, Duval Co. every winter for the last 10. Subject: James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #4 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 19:16:48 -0400 This is Jean Iron's fourth report by satellite phone for the period 1-6 August 2010 from Longridge Point on the south coast of James Bay. Jean is a volunteer with the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) surveying the endangered rufa subspecies of the Red Knot and other shorebirds. The crew is led by Mark Peck (ROM) who is a Canadian member of the international team studying knots in the Americas. Other surveyors are Don Sutherland and Mike McMurtry of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), Doug McRae (ROM volunteer), Lisa Pollock (Trent University/OMNR) and Ray Ford (writer). Ontario's coastline of James Bay measures about 560 kilometres or 350 miles. The coast is extremely flat and intersected by several large rivers and many streams. The southern coast is characterized by long narrow promontories such as Longridge Point, wide tidal flats, shoals, sandy bays, extensive brackish marshes and pools. Its importance to shorebirds has been compared to the upper Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. SHOREBIRD OBSERVATIONS: 26 species to date. Three Peregrine Falcons observed chasing shorebirds on 6 August. It is unlikely that these are Tundra Peregrines (subspecies tundrius) which should be much farther north at this date. Usually only the high count day is given for each species in checklist order. Black-bellied Plover: 212 adults on 6 August. American Golden-Plover: 7 adults on 6 August. Semipalmated Plover: 213 adults on 5 August. Killdeer: 20 on 3 August were a mix of adults and juveniles. Greater Yellowlegs: 206 (1/2 juveniles) on 3 August. Lesser Yellowlegs: 434 mostly juveniles on 6 August. Solitary Sandpiper: 2 on 1 August. Spotted Sandpiper: 12 juveniles on 5 August. Whimbrel: 69 adults (not molting) on 5 August. Here is a link to a Whimbrel named Chinquapin that on 5 August was migrating south over James Bay. Allow a few seconds to download map. http://www.wildlifetracking.org/index.shtml?tag_id=84206&full=1&lang= Hudsonian Godwit: 839 molting adults on 6 August. Marbled Godwit: 1 Ruddy Turnstone: 656 adults and first juvenile on 5 August. RED KNOT: 2062 molting adults (no juveniles as of 6 August) on 2 August, 2000 on 3rd, 1200 on 6 July indicates about 40 percent departed between 3 and 6 August. Some flagged birds stayed 15 days. The migration strategy of southbound knots is to gather at a limited number of stopover sites such as southern James Bay where they fatten before migrating nonstop to the next stopover or wintering grounds. Sanderling: 56 molting adults on 6 August, some with considerable rusty. A green-flagged bird on the 6th was banded in New Jersey or Delaware, United States. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 3049 mostly adults on 6 August, very few juveniles to date. Least Sandpiper: 162 juveniles on 6 August. White-rumped Sandpiper: 7576 molting adults on 6 August. The most abundant shorebird. Pectoral Sandpiper: 1584 adults (not molting) on 6 August. Dunlin: 87 adults on 5 August not yet showing signs of molt. Short-billed Dowitcher: 15 juveniles on 6 August. Wilson's Snipe: 11 on 6 August. Flushed while walking. Wilson's Phalarope: 1 juvenile on 4 and 5 August. Red-necked Phalarope: 1 on 3 August, 2 on 4th, 1 adult on 6th. OTHER BIRDS: American White Pelican, 126 on 1 August. This pelican is expanding eastward as a breeder and only recently have numbers occurred on James Bay. Northern Harrier, 2 juveniles on 5 and 6 August. Northern Goshawk, 1 juvenile on 1 and 3 August, 1 adult on 6th. Merlin, 5 are now hunting shorebirds, likely the adults and juveniles of the local nesting pair. Yellow Rails heard daily. Little Gull, Don Sutherland on 2 August watched an adult feeding a begging juvenile suggesting nearby nesting, 2 juvenile Little Gulls on 3 August. The main breeding area of Little Gulls in North America is likely the Hudson Bay Lowlands between James Bay and Churchill, Manitoba. Bonaparte's Gull, both adults and juveniles noted, many adults are in wing molt. This suggests that an unknown number of adult Bonaparte's undergo prebasic molt in northern Ontario. There is usually an influx of adult Bonaparte's Gulls in November on the Niagara River associated with strong cold fronts. Perhaps some these birds come from northern stopover lakes with abundant minnows such as Lake Abitibi and Lake Nipissing. Adult Bonaparte's molt and stay in large numbers to freeze-up on Lake Simcoe in those years that minnows, particularly Emerald Shiners, are abundant. Arctic Tern, 1 juvenile on 6 August. Arctic Tern greatly outnumbers Common Tern on southern James Bay. 15 species of warblers near camp with many still feeding young recently out of the nest. Le Conte's and Nelson's Sparrows seen daily. White-winged Crossbill, seen and heard daily with high of 53 on 4 July, some are singing indicating probable nesting, good cone crop on spruce in area. Common Redpolls heard and seen regularly. MAMMALS: A Ringed or Harbor Seal was seen "hauled out" at the tip of Longridge Point. Caribou on 6 July. River Otter on 5 July. A young Snowshoe Hare frequenting camp hasn't been seen since loud screaming was heard one night - Great Horned Owl? Lynx? BUTTERFLIES: New species since the last report are Long Dash Skipper and Clouded Sulphur. Map shows the Canadian Arctic is mainly free of ice and snow. It also shows James Bay reaching deep into central Canada. http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_usa.gif Photo of Longridge Point extending 7 km into James Bay www.jeaniron.ca/2010/Longridge-Point3791.jpg Acknowledgements: I thank Mark Cranford, Fletcher Smith and Alan Wormington for information. Jean will call again in a week and I'll post another update. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario Canada Subject: James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #3 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2010 10:09:39 -0400 This is Jean Iron's third report by satellite phone on 1 August 2010 for the period 23 July to 1 August 2010 from Longridge Point on southern James Bay. Jean is a volunteer surveying Red Knots and other shorebirds under the direction of Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. On 31 July four more people arrived at camp and one there departed. Don Sutherland of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), Mike McMurtry (OMNR), Doug McRae (ROM volunteer) and Ray Ford (writer) arrived and Christian Friis (Canadian Wildlife Service) left. Mark Peck, Lisa Pollock (Trent University/OMNR) and Jean Iron are staying until the survey ends about 15 August. Seven people are in camp. SHOREBIRD MIGRATION CHRONOLOGY: Most (not all) southbound shorebirds migrate in three waves: females first, males second, juveniles last. Females depart soon after the young hatch leaving the males to raise the young. The males depart about 2-3 weeks later when the juveniles have grown. Then juveniles migrate after the males. SHOREBIRD OBSERVATIONS About 7000 shorebirds are currently in the Longridge Point area. There are no Peregrine Falcons to disrupt their feeding. Best day for high counts was 29 July after a storm. For most species only the high count day is given below in checklist order. Black-bellied Plover: 21 molting adults on 29 July. American Golden-Plover: 2 adults on 25 July. Semipalmated Plover: 97 on 29 July. Killdeer: 26 on 29 July. Spotted Sandpiper: 9 on 31 July. Greater Yellowlegs: 209 (1/2 juveniles) on 29 July. Lesser Yellowlegs: 437 mostly juveniles on 28 July. Whimbrel: 51 on 23 July. Hudsonian Godwit: 392 molting adults on 29 July. Marbled Godwit: None. Ruddy Turnstone: 415 adults on 29 July. RED KNOT: The high count of 1143 molting adults was on 29 July. The extensive tidal flats of southern James Bay are an important stopover area for knots. 120 marked individuals have been observed with several birds seen over a period of 12-14 days indicating a long stay. Mark Peck and shorebird researcher Lisa Pollock are sampling the foods eaten by the knots. They noted that the knots are plump and in excellent condition. These knots will likely fly nonstop to South America. Migrating knots that fail to gain adequate weight suffer reduced survival. Sanderling: 20 molting adults on 25 July. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 4338 mostly adults on 31 July, first juveniles (a few) on 30th. WESTERN SANDPIPER: 2 on 29 July seen by Mark Peck. Least Sandpiper: 126 mainly juveniles on 31 July. White-rumped Sandpiper: 2450 molting adults on 31 July. A few are still in almost full but heavily worn alternate plumage. Pectoral Sandpiper: 520 adults (not molting) on 29 July. Dunlin: 34 adults still in full worn alternate plumage on 26 July. BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER: 1 on 25 July seen by Lisa Pollock. Short-billed Dowitcher: 2 juveniles on 24 July, 5 juveniles on 29th. Wilson's Snipe: 4 on 28 July. Wilson's Phalarope: 1 juvenile previously reported on 21 July, 1 adult (probable male with cinnamon on sides of neck) on 29th, 1 juvenile on 30th. A sparse population breeds at James Bay. Red-necked Phalarope: 1 molting adult on 29 July. SEA LEVEL RISE: Sea levels could rise one metre by 2100 and will continue rising. Ontario's low flat coastline of James Bay is extremely vulnerable. Rising sea levels will inundate or change vital shorebird habitats. OTHER SIGHTINGS Birds: Black Scoter, a few seen but not the big flocks of molting males seen last summer. Red-throated Loon. 92 American White Pelicans on 1 August. Yellow Rail, 6 ticking on 1 August. Osprey. Northern Harrier. Northern Goshawk on 1 August. Merlin. An adult Great Black-backed Gull is regular. Little Gull, 1 adult of 23 and 29 July was in wing molt. Bonaparte's Gull, 356 on 30 July with some adults in wing molt, first juveniles on 23 July. Bonaparte's and Little Gulls in wing molt suggest that some birds of these species undergo prebasic molt close to the breeding grounds. Arctic Terns seen daily including a pair feeding 3 young on 27 July. Common Tern, 2 on 31 July. Adult light morph Parasitic Jaeger on 29 July. Short-eared Owl observed doing a "food drop" to young in the grass. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher on 1 August. Rusty Blackbird. Philadelphia and Red-eyed Vireos. Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Cape May, Bay-breasted, and Blackpoll Warblers. Le Conte's and Nelson's Sparrows still singing, Nelson's nest with 4 young. 1 Purple Finch. White-winged Crossbills daily. Common Redpolls regular. Mammals: Black Bears are seen daily including a female with two cubs and a female with one cub. No problem bears around camp. A dead young Beluga (White Whale) washed up on shore. It could be the calf of the adult that washed up earlier. Young Snowshoe Hare around camp. Short-tailed Weasel regular at camp. Striped Skunks 2. Butterflies: New since the last report are Atlantis Fritillary and American Lady. FOREST FIRES: There are currently very few forest fires burning in Ontario's boreal forest and Hudson Bay Lowlands. Most fires north of the commercial timber zone are allowed to burn unless they threaten lives/property and First Nation (Cree) communities. Southern James Bay map shows location of Longridge Point www.jeaniron.ca/2010/longridgemap.jpg Jean will call again in a week and I'll post another update. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario Canada Subject: James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #2 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:44:01 -0400 This is Jean Iron's second report on 23 July 2010 by satellite phone for the period 18-22 July from Longridge Point on the south coast of James Bay. The Royal Ontario Museum study of Red Knots and shorebirds is a cooperative effort with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and Trent University. SHOREBIRD OBSERVATIONS The past several days have been mainly sunny with daytime high temperatures below average with cool nights. High tides have been weak so shorebirds were less concentrated for counting. Usually only high count day numbers for each species are listed below in checklist order. Black-bellied Plover: 2 adults on 20-21 July. Semipalmated Plover: 26 probable adults in flight on 22 July. Killdeer: 10 on 21 July. Late nest with 4 eggs hatched on 22 July. Greater Yellowlegs: 137 mostly adults on 19 July. Lesser Yellowlegs: 480 (1/3 juveniles) on 18 July. Whimbrel: 78 adults on 20 July. Hudsonian Godwit: 222 molting adults on 19 July. Adult Hudsonian Godwits molt body feathers before migrating from James Bay usually going nonstop to South America in late August and early September. Marbled Godwit: None seen. Ruddy Turnstone: 102 on 22 July appeared to be mostly females in worn alternate plumage. RED KNOT: Highest count to date of 638 molting adults on 20 July is half the number for same period in 2009. 69 flagged individuals observed include birds banded in the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The above include 7 birds marked before 2005. One with a data logger from Delaware Bay (USA) observed on 20-21 July. After breeding in the Canadian Arctic, rufa Red Knots migrate to stopover areas such as southern James Bay, where they fatten for the long flight to South America. Another rufa population winters in Florida. Florida knots are rare in James Bay. Longridge was chosen as the ROM's survey site because high numbers were recorded there in the past. A one-day estimate of 5000 at Longridge was made in the late 1970s before the decline. Sanderling: 22 fading and molting adults on 18 July. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 1095 adults (no juveniles) on 22 July. Least Sandpiper: first juvenile on 17 July. 80 (1/2 juveniles) on 20 July. White-rumped Sandpiper: 109 molting adults on 22 July. Pectoral Sandpiper: 540 adults (not molting) on 20 July. Dunlin: 11 worn adults not yet in active molt on 22 July. Stilt Sandpiper: 2 molting adults on 21-22 July. Short-billed Dowitcher: 6 adults (not molting) on 19 July comprised 2 nominate subspecies griseus and 4 hendersoni. 8 on 21 July were mostly hendersoni. 1 nominate griseus on 22 July. Wilson's Snipe: 4 still winnowing on 19 July. WILSON'S PHALAROPE: One juvenile on 21 July found by Mark Peck and Lisa Pollock. It likely hatched locally because this phalarope breeds sparingly in the prairie-like marshes of James Bay. OTHER SIGHTINGS Birds: American White Pelican seen daily with high of 57 on 20 July. Sandhill Crane. Yellow Rail numbers are much lower than last summer possibly linked to drier marshes this year. Some Yellow Rails may have short-stopped to breed in the areas such as southern Manitoba, which is very wet this summer with many reports of singing Yellow Rails. Short-eared Owl, pair with two young. Gray Jay, pair with a blackish juvenile. Swainson's Thrush singing. Orange-crowned Warbler singing. Le Conte's Sparrow nest with eggs on 22 July. Nelson's Sparrow nest with eggs on 19 July. Small numbers of White-winged Crossbills and Common Redpolls seen most days. Mammals: A dead Beluga, 3 metres in length, washed up on shore. Crew hopes the carcass will attract scavengers such as Red Fox, Gray Wolf and Lynx whose tracks have been seen during surveys. Two Black Bears seen on 19 July. A Caribou on 19 July. A Short-tailed Weasel (Mustela erminea) is around camp. Butterflies: Two additions since last report: Skipper sp. (genus Polites) and Northern Crescent. Map link below of southern James Bay. Yellow pointer shows location of Longridge Point. Ontario borders the west coast of James Bay and Quebec borders the east coast. Provincial boundaries extend to the low water mark on James Bay. Offshore islands extending to the low water mark are part of Nunavut Territory. The waters and seabed of James Bay are internal parts of Canada under exclusive federal jurisdiction and not part of Ontario, Quebec or Nunavut. www.jeaniron.ca/2009/James-Bay-2009-REKN.jpg Jean will call again in 4-6 days and I'll post her third report. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario Canada Subject: James Bay Shorebirds, Ontario #1 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:13:01 -0400 This is today's report (18 July 2010) from Jean Iron via satellite phone for the period 14-17 July from Longridge Point on the southern coast of James Bay. James Bay is the southeastern extension of Hudson Bay reaching deep into eastern Canada south to about 51 degrees north latitude. The unspoiled broad tidal flats, wide coastal marshes and islands of James Bay are of hemispheric importance to southbound shorebirds and waterfowl migrating from the Canadian Arctic. Longridge Point is about 850 km or 530 miles north of Toronto with about one hour more daylight today than Toronto. Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) leads a crew of four surveying shorebirds with a particular focus on the endangered rufa subspecies of the Red Knot. Others crew members are Christian Friis (Canadian Wildlife Service), Lisa Pollock (Trent University/Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources), and Jean Iron (ROM volunteer). The ROM group is also surveying Yellow Rails and collecting data on frogs and toads. The crew arrived on 14 July and is staying until mid August so they will see adults and juveniles of many shorebirds, allowing rough estimates of breeding success. SHOREBIRD OBSERVATIONS Usually only the high count day for each species is recorded below. Recent weather has been wet and windy affecting observations. Black-bellied Plover: 1 adult on 17th. Greater Yellowlegs: 243 and 1 juvenile on 17th. Greaters nest nearby in the Hudson Bay Lowlands. Lesser Yellowlegs: 375 adults on 16th, 3 juveniles on 17th. Lessers nest nearby in the Hudson Bay Lowlands. Whimbrel: 21 adults on 17th. Hudsonian Godwit: 169 molting adults on 16th. These are migrants from farther north. Marbled Godwit: 18 adults on 16th. There is a small isolated population breeding on southern James Bay in Ontario, Akimiski Island in Nunavut, and Quebec. Ruddy Turnstone: 25 adults on 17th showing no signs of molt. RED KNOT: 725 molting and fading adults on 17th. 10 knots on 17th with leg flags included 2 from Argentina, 6 from Delaware Bay (USA) and 1 from Virginia or Florida. About 10% of the rufa subspecies is marked. Florida and South American wintering knots form two populations, which have different migration routes and breeding grounds. When the data on flagged birds are analyzed, we will know the approximate ages and ratio of males to females, which was determined at time of banding using molecular sexing techniques. Researchers in other locations of North and South America will re-sight some of these birds so we will learn more about the populations using James Bay and their migration routes. Sanderling: 10 molting and fading adults on 16th. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 600 slightly molting adults on 17th. Least Sandpiper: 15 adults on 16th showing no signs of molt. White-rumped Sandpiper: 7 molting adults on 17th. Adults should soon increase in numbers. Pectoral Sandpiper: 246 adults on 16th showing no signs of molt. Dunlin: 18 worn adults on 17th. Thousands of Dunlins stage in James Bay, where adults undergo a complete prebasic molt of body and flight feathers before resuming migration about mid September. Almost all juveniles undergo a partial molt of body feathers (not wings/tail) before migrating. This is why Dunlins are very rare south of the subarctic until much later than most shorebirds. Short-billed Dowitcher: 1 bright (extensive cinnamon below) adult of the hendersoni subspecies. This subspecies breeds mainly in muskegs and bogs/fens across the boreal forest from northern Manitoba to the southern Northwest Territories and northeastern British Columbia. Wilson's Snipe: 2 still winnowing. Shorebird Foods: Shorebirds in Hudson and James Bays feed on the abundant larvae of the bivalve Macoma balthica (clam), and in southern James Bay, the gastropod Hydrobia minuta (snail), as well as a variety of crustaceans (shrimps/crabs & relatives), worms and dipteran (fly) larvae (Ontario Shorebird Conservation Plan 2003). OTHER BIRD SIGHTINGS Birds: Gadwall, 2 on 16th; American White Pelican, 30 on 16th and 22 on 17th; Yellow Rail, 1 singing (tick-tick) regularly, they were commoner in 2009; Merlin nesting on ridge behind camp; Short-eared Owl, 2, Arctic Tern, 2 on 17th; 2; Boreal Chickadee, 2 near camp; Gray Jay, 3 near camp; Pine Grosbeak, 1 on 16th; Northern Waterthrush; Tennessee Warbler with young; Clay-colored Sparrow, 2 singing males included 1 on 16th and 1 on 17th, a thin population breeds in open willow and birch scrub adjacent James and Hudson Bays; Le Conte's Sparrow, 5 on 16th; Nelson's Sparrow, 10 on 16th; Fox Sparrow, singing; White-winged Crossbill, 65 on 15th. Mammals: 3 Belugas (White Whales) on 16th during high tide at Beluga Point east of camp. Polar Bears are not expected because they rare south of Akimiski Island. One close Black Bear was seen. Last year a Black Bear broke into the kitchen cabin, made a mess and ate a lot of food. This required someone to guard the food so that person wasn't available to survey shorebirds. This year a solar powered electric fence surrounds the food cabin. Vole and mouse numbers are low, which is similar to most other locations in the Hudson Bay Lowlands, except Akimiski Island where Meadow Voles are common. Amphibians: American Toads of the colourful Hudson Bay subspecies copei are abundant; Boreal Chorus Frogs are still singing, and Wood Frogs. Butterflies: Viceroy, Common Ringlet, White Admiral, Red Admiral, Fritillary sp. (Atlantis or Great Spangled), Sulphur sp., and Cabbage White. Recent wet weather hasn't been good for butterflies. The 16th was the best day when most of the above were seen. Southern James Bay Map Showing Position of Longridge Point www.jeaniron.ca/2010/longridgemap.jpg Aerial Photo of Longridge Point extending 7 km into James Bay www.jeaniron.ca/2010/Longridge-Point3791.jpg Literature Cited: ONTARIO SHOREBIRD CONSERVATION PLAN. 2003. Ross, K., and K. Abraham, R. Clay, B. Collins, J. Iron, R. James, D. McLachlin, R. Weeber. 48 pages. Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada. Link to pdf below. www.on.ec.gc.ca/wildlife/plans/pdf/plans-shorebird-e.pdf Acknowledgements: I thank Ken Abraham (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR)) and Don Sutherland (OMNR) for information. Jean will call every 4-6 days and I'll post updates over the next month. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario Canada Subject: Shorebird Breeding Success in 2010 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:18:57 -0400 Reports from the Canadian Arctic indicate a generally much better breeding year for most shorebirds compared to the late snow melt and cold nesting season in 2009. Map shows the Canadian Arctic is mostly snow free and the sea ice in Hudson Bay is almost gone whereas ice remained well into August in 2009. www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_usa.gif Counting juvenile shorebirds south of the breeding grounds will give an indication of breeding success in 2010, which is a good reason to learn how to distinguish the age classes. A crew led by Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum arrived at Longridge Point on southern James Bay on Wednesday, July 14. They are surveying migrating shorebirds with a particular focus on the endangered rufa subspecies of the Red Knot. Jean Iron will file their first report soon. Acknowledgements: I thank Ken Abraham, Vicky Johnston, Guy Morrison, Erica Nol and Paul Smith for information. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario Subject: Shorebird Guide to Southern Ontario From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 08:28:08 -0400 With reports of southbound shorebirds, you may be interested in this guide on the Ontario Field Ornithologists website. It includes when and where to see shorebirds in southern Ontario, habitats, an annotated list of 37 shorebird species, a migration chart for adults and juveniles, information on aging, molts, calls, vagrants and ID quiz. See link. www.ofo.ca/reportsandarticles/southboundshorebirds.php Gone shorebirding, Jean Iron & Ron Pittaway Toronto & Minden ON Subject: Awesome news from Australia From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2010 22:44:13 +0200 Hi, Phil Straw and Ken Gosbell kindly summed up the record breeding event in Australia. Enjoy it. http://www.worldwaders.org/news.html Kind regards, Gyorgy Szimuly (Szimi)/WorldWaders __________ Tata, Hungary Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Project enquiry: projects AT worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: Shorebird news from your area From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2010 22:01:22 +0200 Dear All, Sorry for cross-posting. WorldWaders is looking for news on shorebirds/waders from your area, county, state or country worth to share with the wader-loving world. Contributors of WorldWaders has been doing a very nice job with posting or reposting news items on shorebirds/waders and their conservation or their status. I encourage you to pass interesting news to our news blog. The non-profit WorldWaders Posterous (http://www.worldwaders.org/news.html) news blog is dedicated to shorebirds only. If you make your visit to our website you can see how varied the news items are. Should you live in Hawaii, California, Australia, Argentina or China, there is always a room for wader related news in WorldWaders Posterous. Please drop me a mail if you wish to be one of the contributor from your area and I add you. Meanwhile browsing the news blog don't forget to visit our website and consider being a part of our mapping projects (http://www.worldwaders.org/news.html). Happy birding, Gyorgy Szimuly (Szimi)/WorldWaders ____________ Tata, Hungary Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Project enquiry: projects AT worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: Non-breeding Shorebird Mapping Project is online From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:14:51 +0200 Dear All, I am pleased to announce the availability of the second module of the Shorebird Mapping Project of WorldWaders. The first one, for nesting shorebird mapping, has been introduced a month ago and had a nice start. Now the Beta version of the Non-breeding Shorebird Mapping Project is online. We encourage everyone to have a try and use it on a regular basis. Lets us see where our loved group of birds move in large numbers to identify unidentified key sites for their better protection. Please login with your WorldWaders account and try it now: http://www.worldwaders.org/index.php?modul=ujmadar2 If you don't have an account it is better to make one now. WorldWaders has a very simple registration process. Just visit this link: http://www.worldwaders.org/index.php?modul=regisztracio We don't say this module is 100% perfect but we are on it to be. Should you find an error or bug, please let us know. Looking forward to hear your comments and feedback. :) Kind regards, Gyorgy Szimuly (Szimi)/WorldWaders __________ Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Hungary Project enquiry: projects AT worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: images of shorebird eggs and chicks From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 01:26:53 +0200 Dear All, For a forthcoming book on shorebirds we are looking for good quality images (for online use only) of eggs, nests and chicks (about a week old chicks). We have a specific website for this collection. This page (http://shorebirdeggsandchicks.posterous.com/) is set to collect images of shorebird eggs and chicks to support a wildlife artist's, Szabolcs Kokay's job for painting the ID plates for the book. Images will be used for reference ONLY and will NEVER be published by us!!! Anyone can upload images species by species by posting an e-mail to mailto:post AT shorebirdeggsandchicks.posterous.com with the image attachment only in the body of the e-mail. The subject of the mail should be the name of the species and the location (e.g. Red Knot, Alaska). No text is needed with the e-mail. Please consolidate eggs and chick images of the same species into one e-amil. Thanks for your help in advance. Kind regards, Gyorgy Szimuly (Szimi)/WorldWaders __________ Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Hungary Project enquiry: projects AT worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: images of shorebird eggs and chicks From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT mac.com> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 01:26:53 +0200 Dear All, For a forthcoming book on shorebirds we are looking for good quality images (for online use only) of eggs, nests and chicks (about a week old chicks). We have a specific website for this collection. This page (http://shorebirdeggsandchicks.posterous.com/) is set to collect images of shorebird eggs and chicks to support a wildlife artist's, Szabolcs Kokay's job for painting the ID plates for the book. Images will be used for reference ONLY and will NEVER be published by us!!! Anyone can upload images species by species by posting an e-mail to mailto:post AT shorebirdeggsandchicks.posterous.com with the image attachment only in the body of the e-mail. The subject of the mail should be the name of the species and the location (e.g. Red Knot, Alaska). No text is needed with the e-mail. Please consolidate eggs and chick images of the same species into one e-amil. Thanks for your help in advance. Kind regards, Gyorgy Szimuly (Szimi)/WorldWaders __________ Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Hungary Project enquiry: projects AT worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Subject: images of shorebird eggs and chicks From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT mac.com> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 01:26:53 +0200 Dear All, For a forthcoming book on shorebirds we are looking for good quality images (for online use only) of eggs, nests and chicks (about a week old chicks). We have a specific website for this collection. This page (http://shorebirdeggsandchicks.posterous.com/) is set to collect images of shorebird eggs and chicks to support a wildlife artist's, Szabolcs Kokay's job for painting the ID plates for the book. Images will be used for reference ONLY and will NEVER be published by us!!! Anyone can upload images species by species by posting an e-mail to mailto:post AT shorebirdeggsandchicks.posterous.com with the image attachment only in the body of the e-mail. The subject of the mail should be the name of the species and the location (e.g. Red Knot, Alaska). No text is needed with the e-mail. Please consolidate eggs and chick images of the same species into one e-amil. Thanks for your help in advance. Kind regards, Gyorgy Szimuly (Szimi)/WorldWaders __________ Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Hungary Project enquiry: projects AT worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Subject: images of shorebird eggs and chicks From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT mac.com> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 01:26:53 +0200 Dear All, For a forthcoming book on shorebirds we are looking for good quality images (for online use only) of eggs, nests and chicks (about a week old chicks). We have a specific website for this collection. This page (http://shorebirdeggsandchicks.posterous.com/) is set to collect images of shorebird eggs and chicks to support a wildlife artist's, Szabolcs Kokay's job for painting the ID plates for the book. Images will be used for reference ONLY and will NEVER be published by us!!! Anyone can upload images species by species by posting an e-mail to mailto:post AT shorebirdeggsandchicks.posterous.com with the image attachment only in the body of the e-mail. The subject of the mail should be the name of the species and the location (e.g. Red Knot, Alaska). No text is needed with the e-mail. Please consolidate eggs and chick images of the same species into one e-amil. Thanks for your help in advance. Kind regards, Gyorgy Szimuly (Szimi)/WorldWaders __________ Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Hungary Project enquiry: projects AT worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: WorldWaders News Blog From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 00:37:36 +0200 Dear All, A month ago I have introduced a new website on shorebirds which is now progressing well and getting to be known worldwide thanks to Facebook community and the various kind of mailing lists. The Breeding Shorebird Mapping Project is running well and field works in the Northern Hemisphere will be ending soon while a new one starting in the Southern part of the Globe. Now, I would like to hearten you to take a visit on our news blog to get awesome collection of news worldwide on shorebirds and all the related issues. The news blog is updated almost daily on weekdays and we hope we can keep this frequency all year round. Please make a visit to the site by following this link: http://www.worldwaders.org/news.html You can subscribe to it for being notified about updates. If you wish to support our initiative please make an easy registration on this page http://www.worldwaders.org/index.php?modul=regisztracio, then login and follow the New record submenu. More features will be introduced in the coming days. Looking forward to hear from many of you. Thanks for all those support who is already a part of the project. Kind regards, Gyorgy Szimuly (Szimi)/WorldWaders __________ Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Project enquiry: projects AT worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: WorldWaders News Blog From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT mac.com> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 00:37:36 +0200 Dear All, A month ago I have introduced a new website on shorebirds which is now progressing well and getting to be known worldwide thanks to Facebook community and the various kind of mailing lists. The Breeding Shorebird Mapping Project is running well and field works in the Northern Hemisphere will be ending soon while a new one starting in the Southern part of the Globe. Now, I would like to hearten you to take a visit on our news blog to get awesome collection of news worldwide on shorebirds and all the related issues. The news blog is updated almost daily on weekdays and we hope we can keep this frequency all year round. Please make a visit to the site by following this link: http://www.worldwaders.org/news.html You can subscribe to it for being notified about updates. If you wish to support our initiative please make an easy registration on this page http://www.worldwaders.org/index.php?modul=regisztracio, then login and follow the New record submenu. More features will be introduced in the coming days. Looking forward to hear from many of you. Thanks for all those support who is already a part of the project. Kind regards, Gyorgy Szimuly (Szimi)/WorldWaders __________ Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Project enquiry: projects AT worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 Subject: WorldWaders News Blog From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT mac.com> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 00:37:36 +0200 Dear All, A month ago I have introduced a new website on shorebirds which is now progressing well and getting to be known worldwide thanks to Facebook community and the various kind of mailing lists. The Breeding Shorebird Mapping Project is running well and field works in the Northern Hemisphere will be ending soon while a new one starting in the Southern part of the Globe. Now, I would like to hearten you to take a visit on our news blog to get awesome collection of news worldwide on shorebirds and all the related issues. The news blog is updated almost daily on weekdays and we hope we can keep this frequency all year round. Please make a visit to the site by following this link: http://www.worldwaders.org/news.html You can subscribe to it for being notified about updates. If you wish to support our initiative please make an easy registration on this page http://www.worldwaders.org/index.php?modul=regisztracio, then login and follow the New record submenu. More features will be introduced in the coming days. Looking forward to hear from many of you. Thanks for all those support who is already a part of the project. Kind regards, Gyorgy Szimuly (Szimi)/WorldWaders __________ Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Project enquiry: projects AT worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Subject: WorldWaders News Blog From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT mac.com> Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 00:37:36 +0200 Dear All, A month ago I have introduced a new website on shorebirds which is now progressing well and getting to be known worldwide thanks to Facebook community and the various kind of mailing lists. The Breeding Shorebird Mapping Project is running well and field works in the Northern Hemisphere will be ending soon while a new one starting in the Southern part of the Globe. Now, I would like to hearten you to take a visit on our news blog to get awesome collection of news worldwide on shorebirds and all the related issues. The news blog is updated almost daily on weekdays and we hope we can keep this frequency all year round. Please make a visit to the site by following this link: http://www.worldwaders.org/news.html You can subscribe to it for being notified about updates. If you wish to support our initiative please make an easy registration on this page http://www.worldwaders.org/index.php?modul=regisztracio, then login and follow the New record submenu. More features will be introduced in the coming days. Looking forward to hear from many of you. Thanks for all those support who is already a part of the project. Kind regards, Gyorgy Szimuly (Szimi)/WorldWaders __________ Website: http://www.worldwaders.org Project enquiry: projects AT worldwaders.org Skype: worldwaders.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118733871495865 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Subject: WorldWaders From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 17:52:40 +0200 Dear Friends and Future Friends, I am proud to announce the launch of the Breeding Shorebird Mapping Project at WorldWaders (http://www.worldwaders.org/). Should you have any question please find me by eMail, skype or on Facebook. Please help to reach as many birdwatchers as possible. Cheers, Szimi _______________ Gyorgy Szimuly Hungary skype: szimistyle.com web: http://web.me.com/gyorgy.szimuly/SzimiStyles_Birding_Experience_EN/Blog/Blog.html Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/Szimi?ref=ts Subject: bog about shorebirds From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 12:55:09 +0200 Dear Shorebirders, It is my pleasure to announce the availability of our new, just released shorebird blog, the WorldWaders Posterous: http://worldwaders.posterous.com/. It is an open blog with many future contributors. We ask your help to improve it with shorebird related news, thoughts, project outcomes and new research findings. Anyone wish to post periodically to our blog should contact me. Please help to collect news from all around the world. Looking forward to hear from you soon. Kind regards, Szimi _______________ Gyorgy Szimuly skype: szimistyle.com web: http://web.me.com/gyorgy.szimuly/SzimiStyles_Birding_Experience_EN/Blog/Blog.html Subject: Fwd : shorebird mapping - seeking for help From: Cyril Schönbächler <troglodyte AT BLUEWIN.CH> Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:37:51 +0100 Hi to all, sorry for cross-posting, but this mail should be of interest for most of you Best wishes Cyril Geneva, Switzerland -------- Message original -------- Sujet : [WestPalBirds] shorebird mapping - seeking for help Date : Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:57:24 +0100 De : Gyorgy Szimuly Pour : African Birding , Birdingperu AT yahoogroups.com, "WestPalBirds AT yahoogroups.com" Dear Friends, Sorry for cross posting. Can anyone help in this project testing? http://alturl.com/2von Cheers, Szimi _______________ Gyorgy Szimuly skype: szimistyle.com web: http://web.me.com/gyorgy.szimuly/SzimiStyles_Birding_Experience_EN/Blog/Blog.html Subject: shorebird mapping - seeking for help From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:07:24 +0100 Dear Friends, Sorry for cross posting. Can anyone help in this project? http://alturl.com/2von Cheers, Szimi _______________ Gyorgy Szimuly skype: szimistyle.com web: http://web.me.com/gyorgy.szimuly/SzimiStyles_Birding_Experience_EN/Blog/Blog.html Subject: Sony VAIO CS280J/R - Core 2 .. From: Schmitt Fabrice <fabrschmitt AT YAHOO.COM.AR> Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:03:53 +0000 Dear friends:   Welcome to join our company' member club . Everybody here can enjoy our products' member price. All customers can browse through our company's home page---- www.ybwlok.com> for latest information . Our products (notebook PC,digital camera,plasma and LCD TV,digital DV,Motos,phones,Mp3/4,and so on) all have low price and high quality in order to attract more new customers to cooperate with us . Hope here is your shopping heaven! Please contact me via e-mail: ybwlok AT ybwlok.com  Recommended NEW UNLOCKED APPLE iPHONE 3G.. views:5195 NO.411001225441 Market:€ 248 EUR Payment: Live Chat Ship: EMS / AIR CARGO Member  € 240 EUR Sony VAIO CS280J/R - Core 2 .. views:5117 NO.411001225212 Market:€ 439 EUR Payment: Live Chat Ship: EMS / AIR CARGO Member  € 370 EUR Sony Playstation 3 PS3 80GB .. views:5085 NO.411001225007 Market:€ 202 EUR Payment: Live Chat Ship: EMS / AIR CARGO Member  € 192 EUR Yahoo! Cocina Encontra las mejores recetas con Yahoo! Cocina. http://ar.mujer.yahoo.com/cocina/ Subject: Re: Sand-plover in Virginia From: DJ Lauten and KACastelein <deweysage AT VERIZON.NET> Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:08:22 -0700 I wondered the same thing............ Cheers Dave Lauten Bandon OR deweysage AT verizon.net David Hartgrove wrote: > Hi, > And just to remind everyone, there was a Greater Sand Plover seen > over the course of 4 or 5 days at Huegenot Park, near Jacksonville, FL > in May. Any chance this is the same bird? > > David Hartgrove > Daytona Beach, FL > > Subject: Re: Sand-plover in Virginia From: David Hartgrove <birdman9 AT EARTHLINK.NET> Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 14:14:37 -0400 Hi, And just to remind everyone, there was a Greater Sand Plover seen over the course of 4 or 5 days at Huegenot Park, near Jacksonville, FL in May. Any chance this is the same bird? David Hartgrove Daytona Beach, FL Subject: Re: Sand-plover in Virginia From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 17:18:43 +0200 Looking at the images we have a feeling this is rather a Lesser Sand Plover. The shape of relative fine bill, the size compared to Semipalmated Plover and the Sandpiper would suggest this bird as a Lesser SP. There are tricky birds for sure where features overlap between Greater and Lesser Sand Plover but I would not exclude LSP possibility based on the images. Cheers, Szimi -------- Gyorgy Szimuly Tata, Hungary, Europe skype: szimistyle.com web: http://web.me.com/gyorgy.szimuly/SzimiStyles_Birding_Experience_EN/Blog/Blog.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 21:20:58 -0400 From: Gail Mackiernan Subject: Sand-plover in Virginia Hi -- This has not been posted to Birdchat, but a Sand-plover -- which many are now considering a Greater, although the final verdict is not in -- was found yesterday and continued today until dark in Staunton, Virginia just off I-81. If it proves to be a Greater S-P. this would only be the 3rd US record. It is frequenting a farm pond behind a Day's Inn just off the interstate! Details, directions and links to photos can be seen on the VA-Birds list accessed through Jack Siler's web site at http://birdingonthe.net. Gail Mackiernan Silver Spring, MD BirdChat Guidelines: http://www.ksu.edu/audubon/chatguidelines.html Archives: http://listserv.arizona.edu/archives/birdchat.html Subject: Sand-plover in Virginia From: Pete Myers <JPMyers AT AOL.COM> Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 09:13:52 EDT A sand-plover, most likely greater, appeared in Virginia 2 days ago near Staunton, about 40 minutes west of Charlottesville (where I live). It was in a muddy pond behind this Day's Inn motel: Days Inn Business Place Hotel 273 Bells Ln # D Staunton, VA 24401-9013 Here's a link to images: http://www.birdsofvirginia.com/GalleryPages/Sandplover_Galary.html I saw it yesterday, along with a lot of other people. Debate still underway about whether it is a lesser or greater sand-plover. Some people heard its flight song (I didn't). Does anyone on this list know where there are online recordings of the two species? Best wishes, Pete Myers Subject: GIS Mapping Workshops in Georgia From: New Urban Research <nur AT URBAN-RESEARCH.INFO> Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2009 12:39:42 -0700 Hey Group, We're trying to get the word out regarding a couple of upcoming GIS mapping workshops in Atlanta. The workshops are geared toward beginners who would like to map demographic information for Georgia communities. Please pass this information onto anyone that may be interested. The workshops are great for Government Agencies, Public Health, Academic Institutions, Non-Profit Organizations, etc. Mapping Georgia Communities: An Introduction to GIS & Community Analysis Atlanta: November 12th and 13th, 2009* Classroom Resource Group Learning Center - One Glenlake Parkway, Suite 200 Atlanta , GA, 30328 *These are one-day workshops (8:30am - 4:30pm). Participants choose which day to attend. Audience: Beginners, anyone interested in mapping their community. This hands-on workshop focuses on teaching the fundamentals of using a Geographic Information System (GIS) for community analysis. Participants will learn to create thematic maps with Census data, Geocoding (Address mapping) and Spatial Queries. Other features of the workshop are learning to extract Census data and good map layout and design. For more information about the Georgia workshops, please visit www.urban-research.info Gina Clemmer New Urban Research, Inc. 877.241.6576 | www.urban-research.info Subject: Palm Beach Sod Farms Shorebirding From: Robert Wallace <chnuts AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:04:15 -0700 Subject: Palm Beach Sod Farms Shorebirding From: Roberto Torres Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:33:11 -0400 Angel and Mariel teamed with Trey and me this morning for a trip to the sod farms in western Palm Beach County. We met the group with the TAS trip at Holeyland/Rotenberger WMA in the morning, but knowing we would have to make it a short day went on our own in search of shorebirds ahead of the group. We were hoping to join them again later but car problems prevented that. Heading north on US-27 we stopped at the microwave tower south of Okeelanta and found the former sod fields overgrown and devoid of birds. A little farther north we found a flooded rice field across from King's Ranch that had some L. Yellowlegs and BN Snilts and a Wilson's Phalarope. (26Ëš 33, 47.44 N 80Ëš 42, 43.10 W) Nice to get this one on the first stop. Crossing to the King's Ranch side of US-27 (east) we found a sod field with about a dozen Upland Sandpipers. (26Ëš 33, 23.39 N 80Ëš 42, 12.33 W) We then headed north and took 827A to Belle Glade, finding no suitable fields along the way. Heading east on CR-880 we turned onto Browns Farm Rd at Six Mile Bend. We turned left onto the first bridge on Brown's Farm Rd. and found a couple of very large fields in excellent shorebird condition with nice variety and numbers. After checking the fields on either side of the dirt road leading away from Brown's Farm Rd, we took the levee that runs parallel a little further south to the next road left and found even better numbers and two more Wilson's Phalaropes.(26Ëš 37, 16.28 N 80Ëš 42, 31.60 W) Speaking to Andy Bankert on the phone, he told us about an American Golden Plover and two Buff-breasted Sandpipers he and David Simpson found at Roth Sod Rd. (Gladeview Rd) further east on CR-880. We quickly saw the Plover in the first sod fields to the right after turning onto Roth Sod (26Ëš 40, 32.27 N 80Ëš 29, 48.6 W), but dipped on the Buff-breasteds a couple of miles further south. A crane, tractor, and bulldozer were operating in the field where Andy and Dave found the Buff-breasteds. There was another Upland Sandpiper in the same area as the Golden Plover. Some species that seemed less numerous than other years were Pectoral and Samipalmated Sandpipers, and Gull-billed and Black Tern. I've included the Google Earth coordinates to some of the better birds. These fields are constantly changing depending on the farming operations, so their appearance on Google Earth will not be indicative of their current condition. Here's are total tally on shorebirds: Black-bellied Plover (6) American Golden Plover Semipalmated Plover (20) Killdeer (~100) Black-necked Stilt (~300) American Avocet (2) Spotted Sandpiper (4) Greater Yellowlegs (50) Lesser Yellowlegs (~1,000+) Upland Sandpiper (13) Ruddy Turnstone (5) Semipalmated Sandpiper (3) Western Sandpiper Least Sandpiper (500) Pectoral Sandpiper (60) Stilt Sandpiper (300) Short-billed Dowitcher (100) Long-billed Dowitcher (3) Dowitcher Sp. (500) Wilson's Phalarope (3) Other interesting species included Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Black Tern, Orchard Oriole, and Yellow warbler. Not a blowout trip, but a nice shorebird fix with a couple of really good birds. The TAS group stayed later and got a couple of species that we missed, so we could have gone over our goal of 20 species. Oh well, it was a fun day anyway. Cheers! Roberto Miami-Dade Subject: Great Knot in San Diego, CA USA From: Jay K <azure.jay AT EARTHLINK.NET> Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:07:18 -0700 Shorebirders, A Great Knot was discovered today in, of all places, San Diego, California. It has been photographed and seen by many birders over the past few hours. It is the first record for California and one of a few from the west coast of the continental US. See details here: http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/SDCA.html Jay Keller, San Diego, CA Subject: OrnithoCalendar From: Gyorgy Szimuly <gyorgy.szimuly AT MAC.COM> Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:41:08 +0200 Dear Shorebirders, Let me share a new feature of my blog. OrnithoCalendar is collecting major and local events from around the world related to birds & ornithology. If you wanna participate an ornithological congress, a conference, a workshop or a general meeting or looking for a bird festival this is the best place to look for one. The list is far not complete but I am doing my best to keep it updated and I will continuously add new events once I get new information. If you have one which is not listed in the calendar please share it with me. Drop an e-mail about the event and its website and I will add it to the calendar. Feel free to pass it your friends, local networks as well as to local organizations. That could help a lot. Two major shorebird related conference is included. I am looking for new dates as soon as they are available. The OrnithoCalendar already reached 5K+ bird lovers in the world!!! Regards, Szimi -------- Gyorgy Szimuly skype: szimistyle.com web: http://web.me.com/gyorgy.szimuly/SzimiStyles_Birding_Experience_EN/Blog/Blog.html Subject: Quiet Resorts Birding Weekend From: Andrew Cripps <andy AT BETHANY-FENWICK.ORG> Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:20:45 -0400 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 11, 2009 CONTACT: Andrew Cripps 302-539-2100 x14 BIRDERS TO FLOCK TO QUIET RESORTS BIRDING WEEKEND EVENT: Quiet Resorts Birding Weekend DATES/TIMES: Friday, October 16 to Sunday, October 18, 2009 PLACES: Locations throughout coastal Delaware, and in southern New Jersey and northern coastal Maryland ADMISSION: Cost of trips varies. A Weekend Package is available for $45 and includes discounts on trips, admission to the Friday evening reception with a guest presenter, and exclusive souvenir cap, and all park entry fees. DESCRIPTION: The Quiet Resorts Birding Weekend is three days of birding in beautiful natural habitats along the Atlantic migratory flyway. Choose from more than a dozen different birding experiences, each hosted by an experienced guide. The Quiet Resorts Birding Weekend is for birdwatchers of every skill level and experience. CONTACT: Visit the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce web site at www.TheQuietResorts.com or call 800-962-SURF (7873) toll-free for more information or online registration. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FENWICK ISLAND, DE - Birding enthusiasts will want to flock to the Bethany Beach/Fenwick Island area for the second annual Quiet Resorts Birding Weekend, October 16 through 18. The event, organized by the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce (BFACC) offers boat tours, paddling expeditions, and hiking treks throughout The Quiet Resorts and nearby areas. The field trips offer opportunities to sight indigenous birds and those on their fall migration. The Quiet Resorts Birding Weekend enables participants to pick and choose among the many offerings customizing their own event experience. The trips are designed to please both novice and experienced birders, and all include experienced guides. Birders recorded 190 species during the spring event. "After a summer highlighted by the first-ever sighting in Delaware of a roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) here in Fenwick Island, there is increased excitement about this year's Birding Weekend, "said BFACC Executive Director Andrew Cripps. "Our position along the Atlantic migratory flyway ensures that Birding Weekend participants will see a spectacular variety of birds in beautiful natural habitats." The weekend kicks off on Friday morning, October 16, with the Poor Man's Pelagic on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, which takes you across the Delaware Bay to Higbee's Beach in Cape May to see migrating hawks, falcons and songbirds. On Friday evening, participants can flock together at a welcoming reception, and an entertaining discussion led by a prominent birding expert. On Saturday and Sunday, guests can paddle, cruise or hike with experienced guides into secluded habitats, some otherwise unavailable to the public, to see the colorful variety of shorebirds that rest in the area on their migration north, as well as terns, herons, egrets, owls, and perhaps some bald eagles. Trip destinations include Trap Pond and Holts Landing State Parks, Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Assawoman Wildwlife Refuge, James Farm Ecological Preserve, Assateague Island National Seashore, Newport Farms (a private estate), Thompson Island near Rehoboth, and Savages Ditch in Delaware Seashore State Park. Registration brochures and registration through the chamber's online store are now available. For more information contact the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce at 302-539-2100 or visit www.TheQuietResorts.com. Presenting sponsor for the Quiet Resorts Birding Weekend is ResortQuest. Supporting sponsors include the Holiday Inn Express Bethany Beach, and Lynch Printing. The Quiet Resorts Birding Weekend is funded in part by the Delaware Tourism Office. Additional sponsorships are available. For more information contact the BFACC at 302-539-2100. Subject: James Bay Report # 6 - photos From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2009 13:09:52 -0400 James Bay is a shorebirders paradise far from civilization and pollution. Now back at home in Toronto, I wish to be on the tidal flats of James Bay surveying shorebirds, so I'm dreaming about next summer on James Bay. Link has 5 pages of photos and 1 page of previous 5 reports. http://www.jeaniron.ca/Trips/JamesBay2009/index.htm I thank Ron Pittaway who introduced me to shorebirds. Jean Iron Toronto, Ontario Canada Subject: Belle Glade FL Agricultural fields From: Robert Wallace <chnuts AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2009 06:02:15 -0700 Greetings - I was able to swing through the Belle Glade ag fields on Sunday afternoon. This is a huge area (2000++ square miles!) of sugarcane production on the SE side of Lake Okeechobee, which also includes the King Ranch (same as in TX) sod fields that are periodically flooded as part of the production cycle to reduce nematodes. Since none of the federal or state wetlands in Florida (such as Lake Apopka Restoration Area near Orlando, which when it was farmed years ago was the best shorebird spot in FL) or the numerous NWRs are managed for shorebirds (they are flooded for winter ducks already), this ag area west of West Palm Beach is the best habitat for shorebird stopover in FL. With some luck, I was able to find a few flooded fields, one on US 27 across from the big tower south of South Bay, and several smaller ones east of Brown's Farm Rd -Hwy 827 ( http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=26.626897,-80.638275&spn=0.143941,0.299034&z=12 ). Several were almost dry, and they were plowing nearby, so the numbers were down, but species diversity was fairly good. Numbers given were approximated and a total for all the fields. Black-necked Stilt - 200 Black-bellied Plover - 100 Semipalmated Plover - 2 Killdeer - 200 Greater Yellowlegs - 20 Lesser Yellowlegs - 100 Stilt Sandpiper - 100 Short-billed Dowitcher - 10 Long-billed Dowitcher - 10 Ruddy Turnstone - 5 Pectoral Sandpiper - 2 Bairds Sandpiper - 1 (in field with lots of water, along east side of Browns Farm) Spotted Sandpiper - 1 Least Sandpiper - 500 Semipalmated Sandpiper - 200 Western Sandpiper - 100 Other species included Black, Least, Caspian and Gull-billed Terns, lots of waders, Wood Storks and 2 Spoonbills, and both Whistling Ducks. No grasspipers were at the King Ranch sod fields. Temperatures for August in the afternoon were only in the low 90s, almost refreshing with a good SE wind. This is an important shorebird area for Florida, and worthy of some promotion of the value of flooding to the migrant shorebirds. I would think the farmers would be very happy to gain positive PR for the recognition that they are helping wildlife with their crop rotation cycle. I hope the Feds and State managers will wake up and take similar actions - virtually every NWR in FL has water control systems, and could easily be managed in May and August for shorebirds. As it is, the farmers are doing more than the government, and their efforts are un-intentional! Bob Wallace Alachua FL Subject: James Bay Report # 5 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Sun, 2 Aug 2009 11:34:13 -0400 The crew is home after spending 14 days surveying shorebirds. This report covers the period 27-29 July 2009 at Longridge Point, which is 60 km north of Moosonee on southern James Bay. Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) led the crew comprising Amy Whitear (ROM), Doug McRae, Don Shanahan, Gerry Binsfeld and Jean Iron. SHOREBIRDS: Only high count days are listed and all birds are adults except where noted. Additional information is included on the Red Knot because it was the focus of the study. Black-bellied Plover: 14 on 27 July. American Golden-Plover: 1 on 27 July. Semipalmated Plover: 96 on 27 July. Killdeer: 3 on 29 July. Spotted Sandpiper: 1 on 28 July. Greater Yellowlegs: 187 on 27 July. Lesser Yellowlegs: 525 on 27 July. Several juveniles on all three days. Whimbrel: 189 on 27 July. Hudsonian Godwit: 296 on 27 July. Marbled Godwit: 1000+ birds were counted on 22 July during an aerial survey of the south coast of Akimiski Island, Nunavut by Ken Ross (pers. comm.) and Guy Morrison of the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS). Ruddy Turnstone: 296 on 27 July. RED KNOT: 1100 on 27 July, 1060 on 28th and 750 on 29th. Habitat: sandy tidal flats interspersed with large and small rocks and pools. Counts: best times to count knots and check for leg flags were as the tide came in concentrating them; at high tide when they roosted for 1 to 2 hours on rocks and grassy areas above the water line; and again when they resumed feeding in freshly exposed wet sand and mud as the tide retreated. Knots used the rich food resources to fatten and undergo body molt. Mark Peck collected fecal samples on the mud to determine later what the knots are eating. Flags: about 150 individuals had leg flags with many repeat sightings over the entire period indicating long staying birds. When the data on flagged birds are analyzed, we will know the approximate ages and ratio of males to females, which was determined at time of banding using molecular sexing techniques. Researchers in other locations of North and South America will re-sight some of our birds so we will learn more about the populations using James Bay and their migration routes. Sanderling: 86 on 27 July. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 1783 on 29 July. A bird flagged in New Jersey was observed. This species has declined very significantly in recent years. Possible causes include (1) the decline of Horseshoe Crabs in Delaware Bay in spring affecting fat reserves to continue migration and breed, (2) the spraying of wetlands in Suriname on the winter range, and (3) increased disturbance in recent years by introduced Peregrine Falcons (released anatum-types) in July and August at the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, which is reducing the length of stopover and the time needed to fatten for the long migration over the Atlantic to South America. The Tundra Peregrine Falcon (subspecies tundrius) is not a problem at the Bay of Fundy because it migrates from the Arctic in late September into October after the Semipalmateds have departed. Least Sandpiper: 127 on 27 July. A few juveniles on 28th and 29th. White-rumped Sandpiper: Numbers increased daily with a high of 822 on 29 July. Pectoral Sandpiper: 165 on 27 July. Dunlin: 23 on 29 July. Wilson's Snipe: 3 on 27 July. Snipe were still winnowing on 29 July. OTHER BIRDS: Location is Longridge except where noted: Aerial surveys on 26-28 July counted at least 10,000 molting Black Scoters (mainly males) in the Longridge area (Ken Ross, CWS). Yellow Rail, still clicking frequently both day and night. Sandhill Crane, pair with two juveniles on 29 July. Little Gull, 2 adults on 27 July. Bonaparte's Gulls, a high of 458 on 27 July included a few year old nonbreeders, but no juveniles. Arctic Tern, 1 on 27 July and 28th; terns at Longridge were mostly Commons. Great Horned Owl hooting on 26th. Long-eared Owl heard on 29th. Short-eared Owl seen on 28th. HENSLOW'S SPARROW singing on 27, 28 and 29 July in an extensive dry grass meadow dotted with short willow shrubs and wildflowers between the high tide line and tree edge. Savannah Sparrow, common. Le Conte's Sparrow, still singing. Nelson's Sparrow (subspecies alterus), still singing. Clay-colored Sparrow, 3 singing on 27 and 28 July and 1 on 29th. MAMMALS: 2 Belugas on 29 July. Striped Skunk on 27th. Small mammal numbers such as voles were low at Longridge. Yellow marker on map shows location of Longridge Point. http://www.jeaniron.ca/2009/James-Bay-2009-REKN.jpg A total of 109 bird species was recorded including 24 shorebird species for the 14 day period 16-29 July 2009. Next report will include a link to photos. Jean Iron and Ron Pittaway Toronto, Ontario, Canada Subject: American Golden Plover CP - Request for revieuw From: "Arne J. Lesterhuis" <arne_j_lesterhuis AT YAHOO.CO.UK> Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:39:11 +0000 --------- Español abajo -------- Dear Shorebird enthusiasts, We have just finished a draft of the American Golden Plover Pluvialis dominica conservation plan, on behalf of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, and would greatly appreciate hearing from anyone willing to review the plan, primarily to check: - that it reflects the current state of knowledge of the species throughout its  entire range - that all principal threats and how they affect the plover populations, are included, and - whether the actions proposed seem reasonable. Ideally we'd like to complete the review by Friday 21 of August, so that a final version can be completed as early as possible in August. If you'd be interested in reviewing the plan, please contact me at Arne_j_lesterhuis AT yahoo.co. uk ------------ -------- Estimados entusiastas de Aves Playeras, Acabamos de terminar un borrador del plan de conservación hemisférico para Pluvialis dominica, en nombre del Red Hemisférica de Reservas de Aves Playeras, y nos agradecería mucho saber de alguien que estaría dispuesto a revisar el plan, sobre todo, para comprobar: - Que refleja el estado actual del conocimiento de la especie en toda su distribución - Que están contempladas todas las amenazas principales y cómo afectan a las poblaciones de Pluvialis dominica, - Si las acciones de conservación propuestas parecen razonables. Nos gustaría recibir comentarios hasta al viernes 21 de Agosto, a fin de que podemos completar una versión final lo más antes posible en Agosto. Si desea ayudar a revisar el plan, póngase en contacto conmigo en Arne_j_lesterhuis AT yahoo.co. ukSaludos!   Arne J. Lesterhuis Asunción, Paraguay Skyper: arne.lesterhuis     ********************************************************************** The Brights; illuminating and elevating the naturalistic worldview The Brights' Net is an international internet constituency of individuals who have a naturalistic worldview. You can visit the Brights homepage to learn more: http://www.the-brights.net   Subject: James Bay Report # 4 From: Jean Iron <jeaniron AT SYMPATICO.CA> Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:36:00 -0400 Report from Jean Iron on 27 July 2009 for the period 23-26 July from Longridge Point on southern James Bay. Jean called late this morning so a few of today's sightings are included in this report. Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) heads a group of six who are surveying migrating shorebirds. The focus of the study is the endangered rufa subspecies of the Red Knot. The crews survey 15 km of coastline per day and have recorded 103 bird species to date. SHOREBIRDS: 24 species of shorebirds recorded to date. The high count day for the period is listed for each species except for Red Knot, which includes counts for all days. Numbers below represent adults. First juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs (3) was on 24 July and first juvenile Least Sandpiper (1) was on 26 July. Black-bellied Plover: 3 on 26 July. American Golden Plover: 1 on 26 July. Semipalmated Plover: 25 on 24 July. Killdeer: 2 on 26 July. Spotted Sandpiper: 2 on 25 July. Solitary Sandpiper: 3 on 25 July. Greater Yellowlegs: 183 on 24 July. Lesser Yellowlegs: 376 on 24 July including first juveniles (3). Whimbrel: 85 on 24 July. Hudsonian Godwit: 528 on 24 July. 2 on 23rd had flags from Chile. Marbled Godwit: 6 on 24 July. The wintering grounds of James Bay birds were unknown until recently. Researchers were surprised when birds fitted with satellite transmitters on Akimiski Island, Nunavut, in 2007 and 2008 went southwest to winter at the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Previously it was speculated that they wintered on the south Atlantic Coast of the United States, which is much closer to James Bay. Ruddy Turnstone: 151 on 26 July. Red Knot: 915 on 23 July, 704 on 24th, 1,035 on 25th, 1,055 on 26th. Many flagged knots are being re-sighted. One bird banded in Argentina was seen on 17 July and on 25th staying at least 9 days so far. Knots are fattening before departing on the next long flight. The helicopter survey of southern James Bay on 22 July by Guy Morrison and Ken Ross of the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) found an estimated 2,000 Red Knots (fide Ken Abraham). Sanderling: 75 on 26 July. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 3792 on 24 July. Least Sandpiper: 69 on 24 July. First juvenile on 26th. White-rumped Sandpiper: 53 on 26 July. Pectoral Sandpiper: 266 on 24 July. Dunlin: 20 on 24 July. Stilt Sandpiper: 1 on 24 July. Short-billed Dowitcher: 11 on 24 July included a mixture subspecies both griseus and hendersoni subspecies and intergrades. Ontario is the main zone of intergradation between the two subspecies. Wilson's Snipe: 4 on 26 July. OTHER BIRDS: Not listed in checklist sequence. Best bird was a HENSLOW'S SPARROW this morning (27 July) found by Doug McRae, Mark Peck and Amy Whitear. This is the first record for northern Ontario. Nearby they saw a Clay-colored Sparrow. 3 juvenile Northern Shrikes this morning (27 July) found by Don Shanahan and Gerry Binsfeld. 2 adult Little Gulls on 23 July. A high of 2,200 Black Scoters, mostly molting males, on 25 July. Once female scoters start incubating the males depart to molting areas on saltwater. Also seen were 4 Surf and some White-winged Scoters. MAMMALS: 5 Belugas (White Whales) including a female and calf on 23 July, and 3 on 24th. A Short-tailed Weasel (Ermine) with small mammal in its mouth was at camp on 22 July and seen again on 26 July. AKIMISKI ISLAND: Guy Morrison and Ken Ross (CWS) doing aerial surveys late last week saw an estimated 50-70,000 peeps along the north coast of the island and a good number of Marbled Godwits on the south coast (fide Ken Abraham). HUDSON BAY REPORT: On 26 July I talked to Ken Abraham, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), who is in Peawanuck doing surveys in the Hudson Bay Lowlands. Ken found an active Semipalmated Plover nest with four eggs on 25 July perhaps another indication of a late shorebird nesting season. Most Snow Geese along the Hudson Bay coast (10,000 on Pen Islands and 130,000 at Cape Henrietta Maria) either did not nest or had a poor nesting season because of the cold late spring and late snow melt. The adult breeders normally molt along the coast as their young grow. However, many adult Snow Geese have disappeared and Ken thinks that the failed breeders left to molt elsewhere. The small Snow Goose colony on Akimiski Island, Nunavut, in James Bay did much better than the Hudson Bay colonies. Ken had seen no duck broods as of 26 July. Next week Ken and Rod Brooks (OMNR) and Ken Ross (CWS) will be doing duck brood surveys as part of the international Sea Duck Joint Venture, which is addressing declines in sea ducks. Earlier surveys this summer found good numbers of paired Black Scoters and some Surf and White-winged Scoters on small lakes in the Hudson Bay Lowlands. Ken did a complete survey of the Ontario's north coast (>1000 km) from southern James Bay to the Manitoba border on 12-14 July and he saw only one Polar Bear. However, many bears came ashore this past week following strong south winds that pushed ice well away from the coast. Map link shows ice conditions in James and Hudson Bays. http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_usa.gif Yellow marker on map shows location of Longridge Point. The Province of Ontario extends to the high water mark on James Bay. The offshore islands, such as Akimiski, are in Nunavut Territory, whereas the waters and seabed are internal parts of Canada under federal jurisdiction. http://www.jeaniron.ca/2009/James-Bay-2009-REKN.jpg ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Mark Peck is grateful to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for logistical support. He particularly thanks Ken Abraham, Rod Brooks and Sarah Hagey. Funding for the Red Knot Survey came from The Species at Risk Research Fund in Ontario, which is a partnership between the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and World Wildlife Fund Canada. Ron Pittaway Toronto/Minden Ontario, Canada