Life histories of North American shore birds, Part 1 (of 2)Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American shore birds, Part 1 (of 2)
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- Behavior; Shore birds -- North America
flight. Young Bairds in juvenal plumage are easily recognized by the
scaled appearance of the mantle produced by dark feathers with broad
white edges.
_Fall._--Baird sandpipers leave their northern breeding grounds rather
early. Mr. Murdoch (1885) reported the last one seen at Point Barrow on
August 12, and Mr. Dixon (1917) saw none after August 15 in northern
Alaska. E. A. Preble (1908) saw several flocks on migration at Great
Slave Lake as early as July 10.
The main flight seems to be directly south through the Mackenzie Valley
and between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River to Mexico and
South America, where it probably migrates down the west coast to its
winter home. But the route is also extended both east and west in the
fall. Some birds fly southeastward, through the Great Lakes, to the
coast of New England, whence they apparently migrate over the ocean to
South America. Others migrate southward through the extreme western
States.
Mr. Brewster (1925) says that they "visit Lake Umbagog (Maine) early in
September, appearing oftenest during the first week in the month." My
Massachusetts dates run from August 7 to September 15. E. W. Hadeler
records it in his Ohio notes from September 2 to October 11; and Edward
S. Thomas has seen it there as early as August 12. It is an abundant
migrant in Manitoba; we collected adults there on July 29; and C. G.
Harrold tells me that birds passing through in August and September are
practically all juveniles. Professor Rowan refers to it as probably the
most plentiful wader in Alberta in the first half of September; he has
taken it there as late as November 8. J. A. Munro calls it a regular
fall migrant at Okanagan Landing, British Columbia; his earliest and
latest dates are July 16 and September 18. J. H. Bowles (1918) observed
it on the Tacoma Flats, Washington, from July 26 to September 5, and
says:
They were found in singles, pairs, or trios, most often associating
with the semipalmated plover (_Aegialitis semipalmata_) when any
were to be found. When flying with a company of the other small
sandpipers they would separate as soon as the flock alighted to
feed, the Baird's going to comparatively dry ground for their food
while the others waded about in the water and at the water's edge.
They could not have been called common, but from one to three or
four were to be found on almost any day.
John T. Nichols has observed Baird sandpipers on the Pacific Ocean and
writes to me as follows:
August 6, 1926, 52° 19' N., 137° 42' W., three to six birds of this
species came about a ship bound southeast for Seattle, flying with
and parallel to her course. One, apparently misjudging her speed,
was killed by striking the rigging forward. Perhaps the Baird
sandpiper is comparatively scarce on the Pacific coast due to an
offshore migration route.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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