Managing the Right Pieces to Keep Shorebirds Flying
Story and photographs by Brad Winn , Director of Shorebird Habitat Management , Manomet , Inc .
The first hint that something magical was happening on the dark South Carolina barrier beach came from the thin , flutelike calls floating down out of the night sky . The ethereal notes were coming from the first of many unseen descending whimbrel , dropping to the sand after flying out of the marshes and through the twilight to seek safety on the thin strip of a sand-spit island as the tide rose .
The calls seemed to convey calm and content , mixed with the rhythm of the waves , creating an almost haunting experience on this early May evening . Once the first touched down , a steady stream of dozens , and then hundreds of calling whimbrel drifted out of the dark to land with a quick flutter on the wet sand . Shadowy forms began to walk up the beach to the wrack-line as the large shorebirds settled in for the night . They made muted contact calls to their peers as they moved , preened , and rested . Over the next 30 minutes , the dry-sand areas of the beach slowly filled with several thousand birds . It was indeed a magical night .
Background photo : Early dawn before the sun rises , whimbrels begin to leave their barrier island roost site to feed on fiddler crabs in the marshes of South Carolina . Some sand islands support whimbrels that make daily trips of over 40 miles to be safe among thousands of friends .
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