christ@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (Chris Thompson) (01/13/90)
In Article 1267 of rec.birds, Jim Rising writes: >For breeding shorebirds, I'd strongly recommend a trip to Churchill, >Manitoba (on Hudson Bay) in mid- to late June. You can get there >fairly inexpensively (ca. $500.00 flight from Toronto), and quite >a variety breed there: Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary, Spotted, >Whimbrel, Semipalmated Plover & Sandpiper, Least, Dunlin, Short-billed >Dowitcher, Hudsonian Godwit, and Red-necked Phalarope--to name some >sure ones. Also, Churchill is a good place to tick Harris' Sparrow >and Smith's Longspur. Churchill is actually on the edge of the >boreal forest, but along the Bay (because of extreme cold & wind >in winter) there is a "pseudo-tundra," which means that you get some >of the arctic species there as well. Oh, and there are also Ross' >Gulls. Jim is from the U. of Toronto Zoology Dept., so he obviously speaks from firsthand experience. I would think that one other thing needs mentioning, though: polar bears. My mentor works in Manitoba on snow geese, and along about May they have to fire up the electric fence around their compound, because of the bears. These are big, hungry critters who will eat you. Which is not to say that a trip to Churchill should be trashed, just that anyone who has any plans to head up that way should find out about them. (National Geographic has a TV show about the bears is Churchill; it's pretty good). Chris Thompson Bio. Department, City University of NY --