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Semipalmated Sandpiper

Status Common transient. It is an uncommon spring migrant, generally appearing by mid-May (average 13 May, earliest 23 April). A few non-breeders are found through June so the beginning of fall migration is difficult to discern. Groups begin to arrive by early July, and from mid-July to late August the bird is abundant, remaining common through mid-September. It is still present in smaller numbers in October, and stragglers are sometimes seen in November (average 30 October, latest 23 November). A bird on Cape Sable on 31 December 1975 may have been a Western Sandpiper.

Description Length: 14-16 cm. All plumages: Legs black, bill stout, not strongly decurved. Adults in summer: Dark grayish brown above, white below, sides of head, neck and breast suffused with light grayish brown. Adults in winter: Uniformly gray above. Juveniles: Brownish gray above.

Range Breeds in the lower Arctic, and in subarctic regions from western Alaska to Labrador. Migrates through the interior and along the Atlantic coast to reach its wintering grounds, which extend from the southern United States to South America.

Remarks Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the future welfare of these sparrow-sized "game birds" seemed grim, for they were being massacred wholesale over a wide area by men and boys armed with shotguns. But before hunting had gone too far, protective international legislation, though belated, was enacted in 1918 and was strongly supported by public sentiment fostered through educational channels.

In Nova Scotia, perhaps no sand beaches or mudflats are more attractive to these birds than those found about the Minas Basin. One of these, Evangeline Beach, is the centre of immense congregations of shorebirds in autumn, perhaps 90 percent of which are of this species. Locally known as "peeps," they begin to arrive in early July and are augmented steadily by new arrivals from the north until about mid-August when a peak is reached.

To see these immense flocks to the best advantage, one should visit Evangeline Beach during the peak period when the incoming tide is nearing its height. At such times, gradually forced off the mudflats where they feed, they gather in vast numbers on the beach, where they rest in dense formations. When disturbed, the roar of wings and the chorus of peeps is impressive. Sometimes the flock is strung out over the water in long lines extending several hundred metres or more; sometimes it is closely packed. It is thrilling to watch them as they turn and twist in perfect unison. Flashing a momentary gleam that suggests a silver sheet as their white breasts and underwings are exposed, they suddenly create a dark cloud as they wheel to show their mottled gray upperparts. Dewar (1912) suggests that this behaviour of shorebirds in flight is protective, enabling the flock to foil attacks from birds of prey. He points out that these aerial evolutions resemble wave movement or sea spray from above and thus might confuse a predator.

I am pleased to say that the flocks of shorebirds which gather at Evangeline Beach in late summer had not dwindled in size by 1970 and were as impressively large as when I watched them as a boy.