[mou] Arctic shorebird status

[Robert_Russell@fws.gov]

This comes from the Ontario bird net with thanks to Ron Pittaway and Jean
Irons:
Very few southbound juvenile shorebirds from the arctic are currently
migrating through southern Ontario indicating a failed nesting season for
many northern species. For example, at Townsend Sewage Lagoons near Lake
Erie on 8 August, Kevin McLaughlin saw 400-500 adult Semipalmated
Sandpipers and only one juvenile. He saw only  5-6 juvenile Lesser
Yellowlegs among 200-300 adults and had few juvenile Least Sandpipers.
Juveniles of all these species should be common by now. This spring and
summer have been exceptionally cold, wet and windy in much of northern
Canada from James Bay to the High Arctic Islands. Here are reports from six
biologists and birders, five of whom were in the north this summer.

1. Ken Ross, waterfowl and shorebird biologist, Canadian Wildlife Service:
"It looks to me that there has been a general failure of breeding
shorebirds from the Hudson Bay Lowlands north. Certainly goose productivity
was well down along the Hudson Bay coast where it was still winter in late
May. And I have heard that the Arctic was even worse. Ken Abraham was
telling me that shorebirds appeared to be migrating earlier than usual in
the James Bay area, probably reflecting a large proportion of failed
breeders."

2. Ken Abraham, biologist and research scientist with the Ontario Ministry
of Natural Resources (OMNR), studies waterfowl and shorebirds around James
Bay and Hudson Bay: He reports, "Strong indications that the extremely late
year spring (May/June) and cold/wet summer (June-July) was indeed a poor
year for breeding shorebirds. My student Linh Nguyen had a fair number of
Semipalmated Plover nests this year, but a ragged nesting season with very
high egg predation, really asynchronous timing and changes in nest density
among areas, compared to his two previous summers. While banding 12-23 July
we witnessed increasing numbers of Pectoral Sandpipers, a few Ruddy
Turnstones, hundreds of both species of yellowlegs and a very early massing
of Marbled Godwits (in my experience). We had Marbled Godwits in flocks
alone and mixed with Hudsonian Godwits at several locations from the
extreme south end of James Bay (Hannah Bay) up to Lake River and including
Akimiski Island (largest island in James Bay). I suspect that Marbled
Godwit, in particular, had a poor year, but possibly so did Hudsonian
Godwit."

Note: isolated James Bay population of Marbled Godwits is probably about
3000 birds.

3. Don Sutherland, zoologist with the Natural Heritage Information Centre
of the OMNR, reported: "My guess is that there was widespread nest failure
of shorebirds and many other arctic-subarctic bird species in eastern
Canada. When we arrived at the Pen Islands (Ontario/Manitoba border of
Hudson Bay) on June 23rd, things really hadn't started yet. There was still
substantial ice on many of the larger lakes, large snowdrifts in the lee of
ridges and spruce copses, hardly a hint of plant growth anywhere, and
several inches of water on the wet tundra. Many of the local species
including the common shorebird species (Stilt Sandpiper, Dunlin, Least
Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe, Short-billed Dowitcher, Hudsonian Godwit,
Whimbrel, Red-necked Phalarope, American Golden-Plover) were displaying,
but weren't behaving as though they had initiated nests. After a few days
we started flushing more birds from scrapes and partial clutches and by the
time we departed on July 7th there were even some clutches starting to
hatch (e.g., Least Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper). More telling though were
the large flocks of shorebirds present throughout the period. These were
either failed breeders or birds which had just opted not to try. Among
these were substantial mixed flocks of Hudsonian Godwits and Short-billed
Dowitchers (which breed more commonly in the taiga-tundra transition) and
large mixed species aggregations including large numbers of Stilt
Sandpipers (150 in one flock). Many of these flocks were concentrated in
ponds along the coast, but were also present six or more kilometres inland.
Also of interest was the near absence of both Semipalmated Plover and
Semipalmated Sandpiper. These should have been present and not uncommon (as
they have been in other years) on the gravel ridges bordering wet tundra
near the coast, but we saw very few of either and found no nests. Other
species which typically breed further inland (e.g., both yellowlegs and
Bonaparte's Gulls) were also loafing in ponds near the coast. Waterfowl
also had a poor time of it. Large numbers of scaup of both species just
hanging around and no evidence of breeding even by Long-tailed Ducks which
were just sitting in pairs on ponds. There was a total failure of the Snow
Goose colony and near total failure of locally breeding Canada Geese. This
phenomenon wasn't restricted to the Ontario coast as Churchill apparently
was a bust as were other places in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Just one of
those years!"

4. Farther north, Jim Richards of Orono, Ontario, spent 27 June - 13 July
at Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island in Nunavut Territory. He reported,
"That overall numbers of birds present at the end of June was down by at
least 60%. Of those there only a small percentage were actually nesting. In
past years species such as Semipalmated Sandpipers were usually found at a
rate of 4-6 nests per day with normal walking. This year I found one nest
in 16 days! Needless to say, it was very cold, very wet and very windy."

5. Glenn Coady of Toronto, Ontario, was atlassing in the Hudson Bay
Lowlands and was in contact with other groups in the north: He summarized,
"Discussing shorebird nesting success with all the Ontario Hudson Bay atlas
groups, Mark Peck's experience on Southampton Island in Nunavut, Jim
Richards' experience at Cambridge Bay in Nunavut, as well as one of my
birding friends who was at Churchill this summer, it would appear very few
shorebirds were able to successfully breed in the frigid conditions across
the arctic this summer. Many didn't even attempt to nest, and a lot of
those that did likely failed in the horrific windstorms. Jim Richards told
me that areas he covered at Cambridge Bay that normally would have resulted
in sightings of 70 Semipalmated Sandpipers and 30 Baird's Sandpipers per
day, proved this summer to be lucky to find more than one or two birds. He
found only one Semipalmated Sandpiper nest the entire trip, and it only had
a clutch of two eggs. The fact that it also was a poor year for small
mammals (and Canada Geese and Snow Geese failed en masse too) in much of
the arctic meant what few shorebirds that were going to nest successfully
probably encountered heavier than normal predation from foxes, jaegers,
gulls and owls."

6. Alvaro Jaramillo of California on 6 August reported: "Juvenile
shorebirds are down here already, but not the main push. It seems like a
lot of the north was suffering from very bad weather. Alaska was very cold
and rainy this season, I hope I am wrong and you begin to see a ton of
juvenile shorebirds, but my guess is that it will be a weak year for them."

*I hope that birders will report the numbers and age ratios of southbound
arctic shorebirds during August, September and October. This will give us
better information on the nesting success of northern shorebirds in 2004.

Acknowledgements: The following biologists/birders were very helpful with
information: Ken Abraham, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; Glenn
Coady, Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas; Bill Crins, Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources; Michel Gosselin, Canadian Museum of Nature; Jean Iron, Toronto,
Ontario; Andrew Jano, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; Alvaro
Jaramillo, Half Moon Bay, California; Kevin McLaughlin, Hamilton, Ontario;
Mark Peck, Royal Ontario Museum; Jim Richards, Orono, Ontario; Mike Runtz,
Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas; Ken Ross, Canadian Wildlife Service; Don
Sutherland, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; and Ron Tozer, Dwight,
Ontario.

forwarded by Bob Russell