MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • April 23, 2023
We have some nesting species of shorebirds in Maine like killdeer, spotted sandpiper, Wilson’s snipe and American woodcock. However, most shorebirds breed at high latitudes on the Arctic tundra. Most shorebirds on the list of Maine birds are passage migrants; we see them briefly in the spring and fall as they pass through to and from the tundra. Stop-over areas are food-rich areas that permit shorebirds to fatten to replace their fuel stores so they can continue their migration. A recent article provides an alarming assessment of shorebird populations in the Western Hemisphere. The authors found that 26 of the 28 shorebird species for which sufficient data was available showed declines over the four decades. ~ Herb Wilson