Population Monitoring
Identifying what to conserve and how best to do it.
In the case of shorebirds, effective conservation
in Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy requires an understanding of
how, where and when migrating birds use the Minas Basin. Although
there are sites that shorebirds frequent during their annual
visits, the birds’ daily use of beaches, mud
flats and nearby inland habitat is highly variable.
Monitoring activity along the coast and the extent of use – both by people and shorebirds – continues to improve our understanding of shorebird ecology and helps guide effective conservation efforts in the Fundy region. Surveying and monitoring was an integral component of the FSP. Staff revisited known locations for shorebirds around the Minas Basin and searched for new ones. As well, the project co-ordinated ‘snapshot’ censuses of shorebirds to track overall abundances in the Minas Basin. For snapshot censuses, multiple observers stationed at key vantage points around the Minas Basin made simultaneous observations and then pooled results. With many eyes watching at the same time, we could better estimate the number of birds at the time and also gain a sense of how flocks travelled within the Minas Basin. Researchers from the University of New Brunswick also tracked the movements of birds and flocks (2004/ 2005). It appears that shorebirds in the Minas Basin are highly mobile and this may be result of disturbance from people and predators, such as raptors.
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Photo: Donald Sam
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