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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