September 01, 2005 - A shorebird shares its taleThe Suffolk Times • September 1,
shorebird
shares its" tale
THEY CALL ME A black - bellied
plover and I'm a member of a large
group of birds called shorebirds. The
reason they call us shorebirds is that
,most of us enjoy feeding along the
beaches and marshes and mud flats.
Occasionally you might see some of
us feeding on sod farms.
I'm about the size of a robin. I
spend the winter down in South
America. There
FOCUS are some great
places down
ON there to feed.
Each spring
NATURE there is an inner
yearning in mosl
by Paul of us to head
Stoutenburgh north. People
with those bin-
oculars they call birders say our trip
north is called a migration. It's when
birds of all kinds head north.
My destination is way up in the
Arctic tundra region. There must
have been four or five of us black -
bellied plovers along with -other
shorebirds, like semipalmated plo-
vers, yellow legs, knots, turnstones,
etc. — lots of guys and gals all
migrating togegther. There were
even some real little ones, so small
I didn't think they would make it
all the way up there, but they were
heading for the same place; they
were called peeps.
Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
Black- bellied plovers nest in the far reaches of the tundra and on fall migra-
tion some fly as far south as the pampas of Argentina. These shorebirds, like
many others, face many obstacles not only on their migration but on their
nesting grounds, as well.
We flew at night, and on clear
nights we usually had no trouble.
But once in a while we would have
a storm that would come up like
the one we ran into on our seventh
night out. We were in the area they
call Cape Hatteras, where it seems
there are always lots of storms.
The one t at i' us was so bad that
we had to go way inland, and you
know what one of our group ran
into? He ran into one of the wires
that help hold up a big tower. There
are lots of those towers popping
up here and there because people
have these cell phones and I guess
they need these high towers — but,
you know, those wires at night are
pretty deadly to us. I know because
as I said one of our group hit one,
broke his neck and died. After we
leave Hatteras we might make stops
along the way at Assateague and
Chincoteague and up the coast to
the Delaware Bay area, where it's
the time of year the horseshoe crabs
come out of the deep water where
they've been plodding around all
winter to lay their eggs along the
beach edge. Now some people might
think eating horseshoe crab eggs
isn't the best thing to do. But, you
know, each female will lay some
20,000 eggs or more so there's
enough even if we enjoy some. Boy
are they good eating! We stay there
a couple of days just filling our bel-
lies and putting fat on for the trip
ahead.
Then when we get a good wind we
head north to make a stop at Long
Island. A lot of the marshlands have
been filled in where we used to feed
and rest. Now they have houses on
them. Man, it's terrible. There are
a few places along the south side
where there are still mud flats that
are exposed at low tide and it's those
kinds of places shorebirds head for
to get the best pickings.
You know they tell me that way
back when, there used to be thou-
sands of us shorebirds in great flocks
that would feed along those shores,
particularly, around the Great South
Bay area. Then the "mar-
ket gunners" moved in.
These guys used extra -
large guns and there was
no law to stop them from
what they were doing.
They'd shoot everything
that flew by. It was ter-
rible. They'd take one
shot and kill 30 or more
shorebirds at once.
We couldn't stand that kind of
pressure and our ranks became
fewer and fewer. But there were
some good guys who passed laws
stopping the shooting of shorebirds
or any bird that migrated. Today we
are trying to build up our families
again but it's not easy, what with
all the hazards we fly into and with
fewer and fewer good places to feed
and rest.
One of our friends was feeding in
front of one of those beach houses
with the big windows — you know,
the kind where you can look right
straight through the
house. My friend didn't
know what glass was and
thought he could fly right
through that building.
Well, you know what hap-
pened, he flew into that
window and was killed,
so we lost another one of
our group.
Well, no use bothering you people
rith our troubles, and besides it
ion't be long before we'll be in the
reat open spaces of the Arctic. We
,ill go up through Canada, stoppin
long the way to feed and rest. They
ave some nice places up there.
Along the way I was beginning to
;el a little funny. I wanted to find a
Each spring
there is an
inner yearning
in most of us
to head north.
companion to be with.
Sure enough, I did find one. It
was about that time my feathers
started to change. I became quite
dapper looking. I didn't quite know
why but things were changing inside
and outside of me. I did some crazy
things. I'm not sure why. I guess
you call it "showing off." Well, the
first gal didn't like my antics but
the second one thought what I was
doing was terrific, and so the two of
us flew together all the way to the
tundra.
I might say we had some pretty
interesting times on the way. We be-
came more than just friends and so
when we arrived at our destination
we decided to stay together as a
family and build a nest. It was noth-
ing fancy, just sort of a depression in
the ground where she laid her eggs.
The reason we came this far north
.s that there are a tremendous num-
)er of insects here. Remember, up
sere on the tundra the days are so
nuch longer and it hardly ever gets
lark so we can feed.almost continu-
)usly through the Arctic day and
light. Once the chicks hatched, we
iad to keep our eyes open because
here is a mean old bird here, big as
� crow, called a parasitic jaeger. Man
ie flew in and took one of my young
roes Fight out of the nest. Well, I
lidn't like that. Later, when he came
,ack „we hid in the low bushes. He
.idn't get any more of ours but I
id see him fly by with someone
lse's little one in his bill. Jaegers are
lean cusses.
You know what you have to watch
ut for also? There's a great big owl
p here called a snowy owl and he
unts during the daytime, so you
ave to keep an eye out for him.
hen there are the Arctic foxes and
cuas that are always on the look-
Lit for a quick meal. So this migra-
on has lots of hazards, but it all
orks out pretty well: The young get
rong, the days start getting a little
sorter and that's a true sign for all
head south again_