Sandpipers invade coastal New Brunswick on journey south

More than 100,000 sandpipers returned to the Johnson's Mills Shorebird Reserve and Interpretive Centre near Dorchester this week in time for the annual Sandpiper Festival. 

The birds return at roughly the same time every year on their yearly trip back south from the arctic to South America. 

Jasmine Anderson, an interpreter at the site, said the birds are creatures of habit, and arrive at the same time every year.

"[We] noticed that around like the 14th or so we start getting our first flocks of about a couple of hundred," said Anderson. 

"Then, by the end of July, we have large [flocks], numbers of a couple thousand, maybe tens of thousands."

The sandpipers are small, but will grow to twice their size in preparation for a long 4,900 kilometre non-stop migration.

Even though there are flocks of the birds on the beaches of Johnson's Mills each year, they have been declining over the past decade, according to Kerry Lee Morris-Cormier, the manager of the interpretive centre.

"The main threats identified [are] human disturbance, climate change, natural disasters and loss of habitat due to development along [the] coast," said Morris-Cormier. 

The arrival of the birds coincides with the Sandpiper Festival in nearby Dorchester. 

The reserve is owned by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. It was created piecemeal by buying up lots of property along the water. 

The land goes from between 500 metres to a kilometre inland and stretches along the coast of Johnson's Mills.

Morris-Cormier said the reserve gives the birds a leg up and a safe place to stop on their journey.

She said at high tide the birds come closer to shore and can be distressed by people on the beach, so attempts are made to keep people off the beach until low tide.

"During that critical high tide period when the birds need to rest we're here to make sure that they can rest as comfortably as possible," said Morris-Cormier.

Anderson said hundreds of people travel to the interpretive centre every year during the festival and, even at at low tide when the birds are farther from the shore, people are genuinely excited to see them.

"Well, it depends if they have seen it before or if it's the first time they've seen it, but generally the awe is the same when they see the birds," said Anderson. "It's really amazing to see."