On any given year, three to five thousand people visit Johnson’s Mills to see massive flocks of shorebirds like sandpipers and plovers as they make their annual migratory stop on the beaches of the Bay of Fundy.
This year and last, the numbers of birds making the stop at Johnson’s Mills seems to have dropped, from numbers over 100,000 to under 30,000. But Denise Roy still holds out hope. The conservation representative with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, which operates the viewing platform and interpretive centre at Johnson’s Mills, says the peak for the migratory stopover usually happens in mid-August, so there are still a few days for birds to arrive.
Since the centre opened in 2000, Nature Conservancy interpreters have been doing counts to help track the number of birds feeding or resting on the beaches at Johnson’s Mills. And so far this year, those counts are down.
“The shorebirds seem to be a little bit late on our shores at Johnson Mills,” says Roy. Since 2000, “the peak of the migration has given us numbers of 100,000, 150,000, even upwards of 200,000 in some years.”
In 2018 the shorebirds at Johnson’s Mills peaked at about 100,000. In 2019, they peaked at about 130,000. In 2020, the counts dropped to about 30,000. “And so far in 2021, we’ve only been observing about 10,000 to 15,000 on our shores,” says Roy.
“Both 2020 and 2021, the way it’s going so far, seem to be a little bit abnormal to what we’ve been seeing for many years past,” she says.
But there’s no need to panic, says Roy, as the birds “may just be going other places.” In fact, Roy has checked in with her colleagues across the bay on the New Brunswick side, at Mary’s Point and Daniel’s Flats, and the numbers appear in a normal range on those shores.
“So it may just be for some reason that last year and this year again, shorebirds are using other beaches, other sections of beaches,” says Roy.
As an example, Roy points out that in the summer of 2020, a flock of about 75,000 shorebirds made camp on the banks of the Shepody River, which was abnormally low.
“So it may just be, for Johnson’s Mills, that shorebirds are roosting or resting on beaches around the high tide period in places that we just can’t see them quite yet,” says Roy. “And it may be that they’re just a little bit late coming to us from the Arctic, where they’re just wrapping up the nesting season up there.”
While Roy says there’s no need to ring alarm bells just yet about shorebird populations, alarms are going off around the world this week in the wake of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which is being dubbed a “code red for humanity.”
Roy says that climate change could very well be one of the factors affecting the timing and size of shorebird populations.
The shorebirds that pass through the Bay of Fundy are coming from their Arctic breeding grounds. From there, they make their annual migration to South America, stopping along the Bay of Fundy to refuel.
A late spring in the Arctic can delay their migration, and other changes in climate can cause ecological timing issues. “For example, when the shorebirds get up there, they depend on certain insects for feeding,” says Roy. “But it may be that those insects are emerging late, so the shorebirds are having issues feeding properly up there.”
Roy is careful not to confirm what the issues are, if any. There’s no cause for alarm, she says, but there is cause to pay attention. “We’re keeping an eye on things and trying to understand what’s happening, if anything out of the ordinary is indeed happening,” she says.
Each individual shore bird spends two to three weeks feeding in the tidal flats of the Bay of Fundy. “They need to double their weight in order to have enough fuel to make that long flight,” says Roy. “It will take them three to four days, flying nonstop, to make it to South America.”
It’s around high tide, when the water pushes the birds closer to shore, that they tend to form flocks and dazzle viewers with their impressive numbers and synchronized aerial manoeuvres. Within the two hours before and after high tide is the best time to see the birds, but “that’s also the period that the shorebirds are most vulnerable to disturbances,” says Roy. “We ask that people stay off the beach during that high tide just to make sure that the shorebirds are able to rest peacefully.”
With just a couple of weeks to double their weight, “it’s really critical that during the high tide period, they be able to rest quietly, and then they be able to feed quietly on the mudflats.”
“The viewing deck remains one of the best places to view shorebirds at Johnson’s Mills,” say Roy. “I suggest that anyone that wants to see shorebirds would start there first, talk to the interpreters, and go from there.”
Through government funding and public donations, the Nature Conservancy hired a team of five interpreters and one manager this year. And though the centre remains closed, the interpreters are working to help educate and inform wannabe birdwatchers.
To check high tide times, you can call Johnson’s Mills, or check the government of Canada website, which shows tide times and heights for Hopewell Cape, just across the bay.
Thursday, high tide is at 3:35pm, which means the ideal time to see the shorebirds is anywhere from 1:35pm to 5:35pm. On Friday, high tide is at 4:23pm, and on Saturday, it’s at 5:14pm.
