>>> Michael Price <mprice at mindlink.bc.ca> 04/08/98
08:12am >>>
Hi Tweets,

Chris Chappell writes:

>If your count of black-bellied plovers is accurate at 700, that
>would certainly represent a migratory concentration, as
>opposed to wintering birds. 200-300 or so winter at that
site.
(snip)

In an average year, such an increase above the average
would likely signal
the arrival of the northbound migration, but this has been an
unusually warm
El Nino winter, with many birds wintering further N than
usual. Could the
numbers beyond the average be such a wintering group?
Was there regular
monitoring of the plover numbers at this site to establish the
size of this
year's wintering population as compared to the average?

I wouldn't say "regular" but I was there once at a good tide
and I know at least one other excellent observer who counted
somewhere around 400. He did mention that this year's
count (300-400) was higher than usual. One crucial point
about monitoring shorebird numbers at this (and many other)
sites, is that one must hit the tide just right in order to be
able to accurately count the birds there. If the tide is too low
the birds are not visible or too far away, if too high, they are
clumped somewhere roosting and also largely uncountable.
So I am a bit skeptical when an observer says they never
saw many earlier in the winter at this site. Based on my and
Joe Buchanan's observations there were large numbers of
wintering dunlin and plovers at this site: we detected this
because we hit the tide right.

Chris Chappell

I wish I knew what
the situation was at Boundary Bay this winter, whether the
wintering plover
numbers were higher than average; that would give a point of
comparison, too.

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and
change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better
days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)