A blustery day with initial fog greeted today’s volunteers – Ray Riddell, Vickie Cowan and Signe Winters. Hank Scarth was the Lead Volunteer.
The volunteers engaged with 76 beach visitors among the 86 people observed. Among these were a family of three from New Zealand, a couple from Mauritius and a visitor from Ukraine.
As usual, volunteers reported that the conversations were positive and feedback from those interviewed was encouraging. Most navigated quietly around the birds thereby minimizing disturbance. However, a few walked on through the birds despite acknowledging they understood the need for the birds to rest undisturbed. Fortunately, not many birds had chosen to roost on the beach today.
The Lead Volunteer had good conversations at the beginning and end of the shift with two anglers who had set up on the edge of the cobble, a location with minimal potential for shorebird disturbance. They readily agreed to not discard old bait or other trash and it was evident that they had followed through accordingly. Indeed, no gulls were in attendance even though 13 Ring-billed Gulls and three Herring Gulls were observed at different points on the beach. They were asked to encourage other anglers to fish eastward from the cobble.
Six dogs were recorded with three being off-leash.
There were few peeps on the beach today. Perhaps they selected quieter roost areas to avoid the high winds on the beach. There were 133 Least Sandpipers, 84 Semipalmated Sandpipers and seven Semipalmated Plovers observed. No predator attacks were witnessed. The resident juvenile Bald Eagle did a fly by. View full eBird checklist here.
Shift time: 12:15-14:45. Temperature 17-22C. Winds SW 40 kph. Foggy becoming mainly sunny.
Hank Scarth, Lead Volunteer