Shorebirds spend their summers here before migrating south

In the Mi’kmaw calendar, July is ‘birds shedding feathers time’ (Pe’skewiku’s). The birds that are currently shedding feathers are residents of the Bras d’Or Lake Biosphere. Seasonal migrants usually wait until they reach their warmer winter destination to start the feather renewal process.

Some of our most interesting migrants are the five species of shorebirds that breed here each summer and then fly thousands of miles to their tropical winter homes, avoiding our cold winter.

The term ‘shorebird’ is used to describe wading birds that spend much of their time in wetland habitats and are often found along the shores of oceans, lakes, and other marshy areas. They all have small to medium sized narrow, pointy bills, long legs, long pointy toes and long wings. The long pointy wings allow flight speeds of up to 80 kmh. Continue reading…