In contrast to the specialized breeding habitat required by the piping plover, 

 the spotted sandpiper nests in a wide variety of coastal and inland habitats, 

 usually as solitary pairs. They nest along rocky shores, in estuarine 

 emergent wetlands, on small islands, and along the shores of inland lakes and 

 streams. Spotted sandpipers are very common in Maine and are not currently 

 threatened by human activities. 



Spotted sandpipers usually migrate singly or in small groups and arrive on the 

 Maine coast in late April and early May. Eggs (3 to 4) are laid in mid- to 

 late May and hatch in mid-June. The young leave the nest the same day they 

 hatch and are capable of feeding themselves but are under parental care for 

 about 6 weeks. Spotted sandpipers leave the Maine coast by mid-September for 

 southern wintering grounds. 



Winter residents . The purple sandpiper is the only species of shorebird 

 that regularly winters along the coast of Maine. A few individuals or small 

 groups of dunlins, sanderlings, or ruddy turnstones may winter along the 

 coast, especially in southwestern Maine (regions 1 and 2). 



Eastern Maine (regions 4 through 6) and adjacent New Brunswick support one of 

 the largest known wintering populations of purple sandpipers in North America. 

 Small numbers begin to arrive along the outer islands and rocky coastline in 

 late July and August but most arrive in October and November. They remain 

 along the Maine coast until April or early May. 



Purple sandpipers are generally found in rocky intertidal areas along exposed 

 coastlines. Most of the wintering areas known to be important for purple 

 sandpipers are along the mainland (atlas map 4). Offshore islands also are 

 used but their overall importance is unknown. Purple sandpipers also may be 

 found on sand and gravel bars where they feed on amphipods , mussels, and 

 barnacles. Flocks of less than 100 are most common, although occasionally as 

 many as 500 to 1000 may be seen. 



Migratory residents . The greatest numbers of shorebirds and shorebird 

 species are found along the Maine coast during migration. Some 20 species 

 occur regularly in Maine during either the spring or fall migration and 

 another six species are occasional or rare visitors (table 14-10; figure 14- 

 4). 



The northern phalarope is the most abundant species of migrant shorebird, 

 although it is not widely distributed in inshore waters along the coast. The 

 waters in the mouth of Passamaquoddy Bay near Eastport (region 6) support an 

 estimated one-half to 2 million phalaropes annually, which may constitute the 

 largest concentration in the North Atlantic (Morrison 1977). Over 1 million 

 birds also have been observed near Mount Desert Rock (region 4; Finch et al. 

 1978) and in the waters southwest of Grand Manan, New Brunswick. Phalaropes 

 congregate in areas where tidal upwellings concentrate foods such as 

 euphausiid shrimp. 



14-30 



