Report created by Paul Martin, Shorebird Counter and Educator for the Shorebird Conservation and Education Project with the Saint John Naturalists Club.
Start time: 7:15 am
High tide: 10:48 am (7 m)
Finish time: 2:00 pm
Weather:
Start: 14°C, Mist, Wind 19 km/h ESE
Finish: 19°C, Sunny with Clouds, Wind 11 km/h SE
Bird Observations
Boardwalk (7:20 am) – 16 Species View eBird Report
Mallard, American Black Duck, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, Ring-billed Gull, American Herring Gull, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Northern Harrier, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Common Raven, American Crow
Marsh (9:09 am) – 11 Species View eBird Report
Canada Goose, American Black Duck, Semipalmated Plover, Least Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Semipalmated Sandpiper, American Herring Gull, Great Blue Heron, Osprey, Peregrine Falcon, Savannah Sparrow
Main Beach (9:35 am) – 11 Species View eBird Report
Common Eider, Sanderling, White-rumped Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, American Herring Gull, Double-crested Cormorant, Red-throated Loon, Common Loon, Peregrine Falcon, Common Raven
Mudflats (11:52 am) – 17 Species View eBird Report
Common Eider, Red Knot, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, American Golden Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Ring-billed Gull, American Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Red-throated Loon, Common Loon, Peregrine Falcon, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Bald Eagle, American Crow, Double-crested Cormorant
Disturbances to Birds
- Boardwalk: Northern Harrier, Merlin, and Peregrine Falcon present. Harrier was covering the marsh and river, no visible disturbance. Merlin and Peregrine were pursuing flocks of peeps.
- Marsh: Peregrine skimming marshland, then shot over beach towards peeps, circling back to roost in dead trees at back of marsh.
- Main Beach: The Peregrines were constantly chasing the birds on the beach and at a certain point they were both chasing the same flock. There was a gull chasing the peregrine that was chasing a peep. The Merlin was keeping close to the grass and kicking up birds on the beach, didn’t go out over the bay but kept low over beach and grass. With the persistent chasing by the Peregrines approx. 2000 peeps took to the air and flew out to the Island at one point, about half of them returned to the beach after 30 min.
Human: Person with Dog on leash, took a photo of the birds roosting with his phone and then continued to move towards birds scaring them up. Photographer sat and took photos of the birds, overall not a disturbance but did get close to the birds. Both a jogger and a person walking, went right through the birds, they ignored me and just kept on down the beach. There was a couple with 2 dogs that went towards the East beach from the flags parking lot, the dogs were not on leash, and I kept an eye on them with the scope, they scared up some peeps, dogs were off leash entire time. There was a fisherman, but he was down by the gate parking lot, I talked to him about not throwing his cut bait out and giving the birds distance, he was good with that. - The Mudflats; The mudflats had a large number of birds, with the flocks moving often, both peregrines were seen taking runs at the birds, at one point an immature Bald Eagle flew over kicking up the gulls. The number of gulls on the flats is close to 1000 but they don’t seem to bother the peeps.
With school back in swing the beach is relatively quiet weekdays of people, just a handful and most respect the area where the birds are found. I still believe that educating the public is the way to move forward, as there are more people making choices towards helping the birds then those who don’t. The individual who was viewing the birds trying to intercede with the dog walkers is an example of this.
Human Activity
- People Engaged: 12
- Total People on Beach: 22
- Dogs leashed: 5
- Dogs unleashed: 2
- Kites: 0
- Fisherman: 1 (by parking lot near Taylor Island – park gate)
Counter/Educator: Paul Martin
The Shorebird Conservation and Education Project is supported by our funders at the NB Wildlife Trust Fund, the NB Environmental Trust Fund and Birds Canada.