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Working at Johnson’s Mills Shorebird Interpretive Centre
home - calendar/activities - pictures and articles - contact us/executives - links - bibliography
Working at Johnson’s Mills Shorebird Interpretive Centre
By Elizabeth Walsh
Shortly after graduating from Mount Allison University in 2001, a good friend introduced me to the shorebirds of Johnson’s Mills, New Brunswick.
I immediately fell in love with those little sandpipers that filled the sky. I had never seen such a sight and with each wave of their acrobatic flight my heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t believe that all this time I had not seen this natural phenomenon found so close to home. Since then, every summer, I have ventured to Shepody Bay to witness the amazing migration of the Semipalmated Sandpiper (“peeps”). After studying Ecosystem Restoration at Niagara College in 2004, I began working as the summer manager for the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Johnson’s Mills Shorebird Interpretive Centre. At the centre, bilingual interpreters educate the public on shorebird biology and the ecology of the mudflats but most importantly we provide protection to the shorebirds.
Shorebird migration is more complex than that of other bird species. Shorebirds, like the sandpipers, travel for thousands of kilometres without stop to breed in some of the harshest places in the world (Arctic). They rely on very unique habitats that are globally isolated and without these they could not and would not survive.
Each summer 2 to 3 million “peeps” stop in the upper reaches of the Bay of Fundy, in locations such as Johnson’s Mills. They come to feed on Fundy’s extensive intertidal mudflats en route to South America. Thirty-four species of shorebirds have been identified in the area but by far the most abundant is the Semipalmated Sandpiper making up to 95% of the massive flocks. The Bay of Fundy creates the perfect conditions for a mudshrimp, called Corophium volutator – the most important food of the sandpipers. Corophium is isolated in North America to the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine and can be found in densities as high as 60,000/m2. During one low tide a sandpiper can eat an average of 16,000 mudshrimp. This permits the sandpipers to double their weight in just 10-14 days. The extra weight will give them the required energy needed to fly non-stop for 72 hours over the Atlantic Ocean to their wintering grounds.
This summer the sandpipers were first spotted at Johnson’s Mills on July 12 and will, as usual, be present through to September. Daily, I see the flocks growing in number. By the first two weeks of August peak concentrations of close to 200,000, should be seen. The large flocks in flight are a sight like no other. They ripple and move in unison over the waves, flashing from black to silver, as they simultaneously change direction. Slight disturbances like this at high tide, although beautiful, cause them to waste precious energy and it is important that they rest,
undisturbed.
I truly enjoy working with and protecting the sandpipers. It’s an experience with many rewards and I must recommend a trip to come see the shorebirds.
If you would like more information you can contact an interpreter at (506) 379-6347.
