Whimbrel Watch

The Eastern Shore and barrier islands are a heaven for birders during the shorebird spring migration. I have seen so many awesome bird sights including little groups of threatened red knots feeding in the surf, hundreds upon hundreds of dunlin so tired from migration they barely have the energy to hop on one leg away from me, and huge groups of skimmers barking so much it's deafening. Other shorebirds of interest include the piping plovers and American oystercatchers that I work with, semipalmated sandpipers, spotted sandpipers, semipalmated plovers, willet, whimbrel, and sanderling.


My work has been doing a spring count of one of the species, whimbrel, for several years. We take about ten days in the spring and from 4:30-dark we count the whimbrel migrating north. They fly 4,000-5,000 miles in 4-5 days to the Hudson Bay or up to northern Canada. The whimbrel fuel up on fiddler crabs here in the area before taking the big trip north. A study found they eat about 0.72 fiddler crabs per minute to fuel up!

There was an article in the local paper talking about some of these birds and their journey: http://www.bayjournal.com/article/migratory_birds_shore_up_appetites_on_horseshoe_crab_eggs

This is the view for Whimbrel Watch! We count flocks of 5 to hundreds.

Solitary sandpiper

Dunlin by the hundreds

The ibis are so beautiful and majestic. We see mostly white, but the occasional glossy ibis.

Gorgeous red knots!  A new one for my life list.