Now you see them, now you don't. Along the coastline of Lower New York Bay, including Sandy Hook Bay and Raritan Bay, is a magical place to be for the next several weeks.
Shorebird migration has begun. The great push is on now for millions, if not billions, of birds to journey southward. Some shorebirds so tiny they are the size of your hand. The Least Sandpiper is only six inches tall.
Flying over great distances, thousands of miles in many cases, they are in search of their winter home along a stretch of coastline from the United States or the Caribbean, to as far south as southern South American. Guided by the slowly diminishing daylight of the mid-summer sun, the birds know the message it brings - there will soon be a change in the seasons. Winter is not far away.
The little shorebirds have spent much of late spring and summer nesting in the far wilds above the Arctic Circle on the tundra in Canada and Alaska. They have completed their mission of raising a family, the next generation of shorebirds. Now they need to fly southward. The need to move is on again.
Peter Matthiessen, author and naturalist, in his famous book entitled, The Wind Birds: Shorebirds of North America, described sharply to me the sight of seeing these charming cluster of birds. "The restlessness of shorebirds," he writes, "their kinship with the distance and swift seasons, the wistful signal of their voices down the long coastlines of the world make them, for me, the most affecting of wild creatures. I think of them as birds of wind, as wind birds." The sleek slender, pointed wings of shorebirds make them strong fliers of the wind.
Late summer and early fall is the best opportunity to see these wind birds along the shoreline of Lower New York Bay, and along the Jersey Shore and Long Island. The birds will move with an unpredictable and breathtaking force like a gust of wind. Waves of shorebirds show up on sandy beaches out of nowhere in flocks of just a handful to hundreds or more packing the edge of a beach.
First to arrive are the adult shorebirds. Parents and young generally do not migrate together. Juvenile shorebirds will remain on breeding territories in the Arctic to gain weight, become fully feathered and skilled enough to fly long distances. Most young-of-the-year shorebirds will not depart the breeding grounds for three to six weeks after their parents have set out. How the little juvenile birds know where to go, how to get there, and how to find food is a remarkable tale in itself, a voyage of pure instinct and intuition; and courage.
Migration is a difficult venture. The birds will need to fatten up just enough to power their long flights, but quick enough if they are to make it to their wintering grounds before a major tropical storm hits, or the first frost arrives, or water temperatures dramatically decline, which will diminish food supply.
What birds show up where is entirely dependent on the food resources and habitat available at any given beach or wetland. Plovers, including Semipalmated Plovers and Black-bellied Plovers, will use their short bills to probe the sand for small mollusks, crustaceans, and worms. Sandpipers, such as Semipalmated Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, and Long-billed Dowitchers, which have longer bills, will forage on mudflats to feed on mostly tiny aquatic insects and crustaceans. Greater Yellowlegs, a long-billed probing sandpiper that has long legs will forage in open marshes and mudflats for small fish and marine worms. The energy that this coastal cuisine provides will also help the adult birds preen and complete their molting of feathers to non-breeding plumage.
Low tide, regardless of day or night, seems to be the best time to spot shorebirds. This is when most of the food they are seeking is available. The birds take swift advantage by feeding constantly — pecking and probing for worms, mollusks, and crustaceans.
The wind birds during migration will only stay in one place long enough to feed and rest. Maybe for a few hours or a few days, perhaps a week or two if we are lucky. Then they will fly off. Some of their voyages can be extensive and extraordinary. Semipalmated Sandpipers frequently make a nonstop flight of nearly 2,000 miles from New England or Lower New York Bay to the coastline of South America. Black-bellied Plovers, on the other hand, have an extensive winter range that can carry them from southwestern Canada all the way to southern South American. Remarkable migration patterns that cross from one hemisphere to another.
The journey of the wind birds is one solely dependent on food and safe passage. Unfortunately there are fewer and fewer places in our modern world where migrating birds can find food and are protected enough from human disturbances to have a break. Over-development and poorly-planned coastal construction has created fragmented and thinner migratory routes. Space they once could count on to survive has often turned into a bulkheaded beach, a parking lot, or a patch-work of buildings and roads.
Some activities that damage or fragment shorebird habitat include:
• direct loss of intertidal and wetland habitat through filling or dredging
• fragmentation of large continuous beach habitat areas by development
• water pollution and nutrient changes
• disturbance from boating activities, and from people and/or dogs walking near habitat
• sea level rise, flooding, and an increase in intense storms due to changes in climate.
Without question we need to do more in our society to protect habitat for migrating shorebirds. It's not easy to do when many people consider all birds to be the same. But shorebirds are not like crows, pigeons, gulls, or other common birds of the New York metropolitan region. Shorebirds are very easily disturbed by human activity. When shorebirds are disturbed they will waste hard-earned energy to fly off to find another place to take a break, using fat resources and reducing their ability to survive on a long migration.
Some of the ways you can help protect migratory shorebirds:
• Restore Natural Habitat in Your Community. Parks and open spaces are natural places for birds. Work with your community to recreate the habitat that once existed in your area.
• Keep dogs, cats, and other domestic animals under control and well away from shorebirds. Every time shorebirds are forced to take flight, they burn vital energy.
• Put Waste in its Place. Birds become entangled in plastic bags, fishing line and other garbage, resulting in injury, strangulation or easy predation.
• Keep Your Distance. Approaching wildlife too closely may cause them to become nervous and deplete much-needed energy reserves.
• Teach Others About Birds.: The more people know, the more they can do to help.
For more information, pictures and year-round sightings of wildlife in or near Sandy Hook Bay, please check out my blog entitled, Nature on the Edge of New York City at http://www.natureontheedgenyc.com
