Subject: AWOL Shorebirds?
Date: Jun 16 21:52:07 1998
From: Michael Price - mprice at mindlink.bc.ca


Hi Tweets,

Gerald Hamilton writes:

(snip)
>'Peeps' were totally absent, even on a
>very low tide Willapa Bay. Another birder I met was also surprised by
>the absence of the usual small shorebirds.

But in future, Gerald and the other chance-met birder will be able to
replace their current surprise with anticipation; we're in the approximately
three- to four-week hiatus between the last departures of northbound
shorebirds in Weeks 3 & 4 May and the return of the first southbound
shorebirds in Weeks 3 & 4 June. Sometimes a few nonbreeders, probably mostly
adolescent subadults, will oversummer at some site such as Iona Island and
one can, with practice, learn to identify and recognise certain individuals
in such a location through the hiatus. When unfamiliar individual birds of
the same species begin to appear around the average return arrival date,
it's a good sign the southbound migration has begun at that location.

When exactly does it begin? Well, in Vancouver BC the southbound shorebird
migration kicks off with the arrival of nonbreeder Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa
flavipes on the average date of June 20, followed by Western Sandpiper
Calidris mauri on average June 24.

Which segues nicely into my annual plea for clearer, more correct
migrational terminology than Birders' English offers at present. It is a
nonsense--and one highly confusing to beginners until they become familiar
with the eccentric use of the terms 'Fall' or 'Autumn Migration' by
established birders--to have the Fall or Autumn Migration begin *before* the
Summer Solstice and just as our latest Spring migrants are cosily settling
down to domesticity and becoming Summer residents. The simple facts are:
southbound migration begins in June; Fall begins on September 21.

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)