Hi Michael,

Many thanks for that interesting information from another shorebird junkie!

I always think of the last week of June as the beginning of "fall" shorebird arrival. I think it is mostly the adults that either had a failed nest or weren't involved in the later parental care.

Dennis Paulson
Seattle


> On Jun 25, 2025, at 11:57 PM, Michael Price via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

>

> Hi tweets

>

> As a shorebird junkie, June 26 is a personally significant day for me as it is the average arrival date of the first species, Western Sandpiper, in the southbound shorebird migration in Vancouver BC.

>

> In the Eighties and Nineties I worked out average arrival and departure dates for most of the shorebirds here, then tested them against observation at a number of hotspots such as Iona Island (settling ponds and jetties), Boundary Bay, Reifel Refuge Robert's Bank. In particular I paid attention to the individuals present during the hiatus between the north-; and southbound migrations so that when the first returning birds appeared, there'd be no mistaking them for the loitering layabouts.

>

> And one year, I was there at the exact moment of the first return Westerns at Iona Island. And about eight in the evening, I spotted them in a tight incoming flock in the northwest, a small flock of twenty birds weaving back and forth before finally arriving at the pond and eventually setting down.

>

> Ironically, they're the last migrant species to leave, with Nov 01 as their average departure of the last flock of 10+ birds. The singleton Westerns which remain to overwinter are almost exclusively First-year males with short icepick bills.

>

> Michael Price

> Vancouver BC Canada

> loblollyboy at gmail.com <mailto:loblollyboy at gmail.com>

>

> Every answer deepens the mystery.

> -- E.O. Wilson

>

>

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