Report created by Erin Brown, Shorebird Counter and Public Educator for the Shorebird Conservation and Education Project with the Saint John Naturalists Club.
Counts
Flats
- Shorebird numbers were very low. Only 9 “peeps” were counted along with 24 Black-Bellied Plovers.
- Other birds included: 106 Gulls, 6 Great Blue Herons, 34 Cormorants, 12 Eiders, 2 Black Ducks, 1 Turkey Vulture, and 30 unidentified waterfowl.
Pocket Beaches
- A: No shorebirds seen.
- B: No shorebirds seen.
- C: No shorebirds seen.
- D: No shorebirds seen.
- Beach between D and E: No shorebirds seen.
- E: No shorebirds seen.
- Inaccessible Beaches: 9 “peeps” seen foraging at the edge of the water.
Main Beach
- Shorebirds roosting: 17 Semipalmated Plovers and 29 Semipalmated Sandpipers. A falcon flushed 105 “peeps” that flew off over the water.
- Other birds included 6 Gulls and 2 Peregrine Falcons.
- There were 5 people on the beach.
East Beach
- Shorebirds roosting: 22 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 15 Semipalmated Plovers, and 1 Dunlin.
- Other birds seen included 1 Merlin.
- 2 people were seen on the beach.
Marsh – surveyed after high tide.
- A group of 20 unidentified shorebirds flushed from the marsh grasses near the boardwalk and settled back into the grasses father away. They were larger than the usual “peeps” and sounded different.
- Other birds seen included: 7 Great Egrets, 3 Black Ducks, 45 Gulls, 37 Canada Geese, 4 Crows, 7 Great Blue Herons, 14 Cormorants, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 3 Green-Winged Teal, 1 Common Eider, 2 Peregrine Falcons, 5 unidentified waterfowl, and 30 Horned Larks.
This project was made possible with the support from our funders at the Environment and Climate Change Canada. We would like to thank our partners at Irving Nature Park and NatureNB.