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On the Wing: Heatwaves, forests and shorebirds

By Margo Hearne
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A Black Turnstone (Margo Hearne/Haida Gwaii Observer)

By Margo Hearne

The dog days of summer continue. It’s been hot and dry and alder leaves are falling like crazy. It seems early, but the recent sun and winds have worn them down. There hasn’t been a real downpour for a month or so, not really unusual for summer, but after all the rains of spring perhaps we expected a wet summer.

There are all sorts of reasons put forward for the heat this year, one being that the jet stream is weaker than usual so areas of atmospheric high pressure are hovering over the same place for a longer time. Something similar occurred in 1976, according to the Met Office in London, when some places had one of the driest, sunniest and warmest summers in the 20th century.

But, they say, since 1976 there have been several decades of global warming caused by rising carbon emissions that have raised baseline global temperatures significantly. It’s getting hotter.

Hotter trends will definitely affect bird behaviour. Many of the streams and rivers on island are lower than they have ever been. This is affecting returning salmon — the creators, in some ways, of the world as we know it here. Dead salmon feed the bears, the bears drag the carcasses away from the river, the trees feed on the richness and so on. No fish, no bears, no forest, no birds. Haida Gwaii weather is more moderate than that of the B.C. Interior. It is an island in the ocean — cool sea winds keep the temperature down, but even here things will change.

The Sandhill Cranes of Delkatla were failed nesters this year. We have seen no young at all although a pair near the Tlell River were successful. Friends who live there were thrilled to see crane chicks in late July! The shorebirds along the high beach haven’t done so well. Very few Semipalmated Plover chicks made it and a friend who has been keeping a close watch on oystercatcher nests said that at least three had failed earlier and she was keeping tabs on a re-nesting pair. No word so far.

Canada Geese are back in the sanctuary. They move back and forth from Maast Island daily, calling as they go. The local geese are resident, meaning they nest on island and stay here. They will soon be joined by their southbound companions.

Shorebird migration is underway. Western and Least Sandpipers were in high gear; most were this year’s young on their way south. They jinked and squabbled, rose with the wind and kept moving. So did a small flock of Black Turnstones, though they eventually settled on the crossbeams under the old wharf when the tide rose. There were a few Ruddy Turnstones with them and on the high beach were a pair of Baird’s Sandpipers, sleek little things, a little bigger than Western Sandpipers, with longer wings and tail.

A Spotted Sandpiper also flitted along Delkatla’s edge. Nice to see them. Perhaps, sometimes, as the poet Browning would write, “God’s in his heaven and all’s right with the world.”

It would be nice to think so.