dowitchers, greater and lesser yellowlegs, and black-bellied plovers. The 

 intertidal flats in Steuben, Dyer Bay, Sullivan, and Sorrento are important 

 feeding areas for semipalmated plovers, black-bellied plovers, red knots, and 

 yellowlegs. Petit Manan Point is a regular stopover area for whimbrels, red 

 knots, and godwits. The large mussel and barnacle populations on the Bar 

 Harbor gravel bar attract an abundance of turnstones (up to 600). Many small 

 sandpipers and plovers roost on offshore ledges and small islands (i.e., Dry 

 Ledges in Harrington). 



Region 6 has 36 major feeding areas and 40 roosting sites. Large 

 concentrations of semipalmated sandpipers (more than 50,000 birds) have been 

 observed at Half-Moon and Carrying Place Coves in Eastport, the Lubec Narrows 

 in south Lubec, and Machias Bay. The most important known roosting areas in 

 this region are Sprague Neck and the mouth of Holmes Stream (both in Holmes 

 Bay, Cutler), four locations on the Lubec flats (South Lubec and Campobello 

 Island), Johnson's Cove Beach (Eastport), and Pleasant Point (Perry). 



Role of Shorebirds in the Ecosystem 



Shorebirds feed primarily on amphipods and oligochaete worms, which in turn 

 feed on detritus. Mudflats that are heavily used by shorebirds have high 

 numbers of these detritovores and low amounts of detritus (personal 

 communication from M. J. Risk, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 

 May 1979; and Yeo 1978). Migratory shorebirds convert much of their food into 

 fat, which provides energy for the long flights to South American wintering 

 grounds. As a result this energy is lost from the local estuarine 

 environment. The magnitude of this loss and the effect on the estuarine 

 environment have not been determined. Studies in nearby Nova Scotia have 

 shown that populations of preferred prey ( Corophium volutator, a small 

 amphipod) can be measurably reduced where shorebirds concentrate in large 

 numbers. The greatest concentrations of shorebirds are on the last mudflats 

 to be covered by the rising tide, and the first flats open after high tide. 



WADING BIRDS 



Wading birds include the herons, egrets, ibises, and bitterns, (order 

 Ciconiiformes) . They have relatively long legs and necks and small bodies. 

 Six species of wading birds breed in coastal Maine, and six others are 

 nonbreeding summer residents or visitants (table 14-14). None are regular 

 winter residents. They feed in shallow water in marine and estuarine 

 intertidal areas and palustrine, riverine, and lacustrine systems. Wading 

 birds feed on a variety of prey including reptiles, fish, insects, other 

 invertebrates, birds, small mammals, and some plant material. Because wading 

 birds are top level consumers, biocides tend to accumulate in their tissues. 

 For this reason, wading birds could serve as indicators of levels of 

 environmental contamination. 



Historical Perspective 



Like seabirds and shorebirds, wading birds were hunted for food, for bait, for 

 sport, and for their feathers (the millinery industry) during the 1800s. In 

 addition, many nesting colonies were disturbed or destroyed by vandals. Early 

 reports (summarized by Palmer 1949) suggest that wading birds declined in Knox 

 County (region 4) between 1820 and 1851, in western Maine between 1885 and 



14-35 



10-80 



