On
Sunday, a birding group from Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay was sorting through
migrant shorebirds on Morris Island in Chatham. The usual suspects were in place
– Semipalmated Sandpipers newly arrived from Brazil; Dunlins, Sanderlings, and
Ruddy Turnstones all in their breeding finery, plus shrieking Willets defending
their nearby nests.
The
numbers were modest, as is typical for spring – most shorebirds avoid this part
of the world on their northbound journey. But among the dozens of expected
birds was one that did not compute. It was the size and shape of a Dunlin, with
that same long, down curved bill, but with red where the black belly should be.
The leaders, David Clapp and Joel Wagner, quickly realized this was a rare
visitor from “the Continent” – a Curlew Sandpiper.
Curlew
Sandpipers breed in a relatively small area of Arctic Siberia, then make an
impressive migration to Africa and Australia for the winter. This species used
to be almost annual in spring on Cape Cod, but shows up much less often these
days - it’s anyone’s guess why. And how does a bird that’s trying to get
to Siberia from Africa end up on Cape Cod, anyway? That’s also up for debate,
but the prevailing theory is that a few Curlew Sandpipers overshoot their fall
migration to Africa, putting them over the tropical Atlantic and eventually in
South America, where they settle in for the winter with other shorebirds. Come
spring, these birds head north with the other North American shorebirds, ending
up in places like Chatham. No one knows if and where these lost birds end up
breeding, but it’s unlikely they find their way back to Eurasia from here.
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