The shorebirds exhibit at the Aquarium is a quiet, sunny oasis for the rescued birds that live there. Watching them bop up and down the exhibit's shoreline, listening to them cheep and squawk, is also a treat for visitors.

The shorebirds get the corner office with a view of Boston Harbor.

But mealtime might make some folks squirm.


This day, our aquarists fed the birds a tasty buffet of beetle larvae, served up in trays and distributed discretely around the exhibit. The trays keep the larvae from wriggling into the sand and pebbles in the exhibit. The fish-eating birds — the common terns and black skimmer — also dine on frozen (then thawed) silversides and capelin, which are also on the menu for other Aquarium animals like the penguins and large fish in the Giant Ocean Tank. And no, they don't actually eat the fish in the exhibit!

Preparing lunchtime for the shorebirds

And now and then, the aquarists also release a jar of crickets into the exhibit. That's when you can really see the birds forage!

Special delivery for the shorebirds: crickets

In the wild shorebirds rely heavily on bugs and crustaceans they find on the beach, mainly in the wrack, or seaweed, that washes up and is found along the high tide line. In our exhibit, however, it would be a lot of work to constantly haul 50 pounds of wrack into the everyday and we might not know how much the birds are eating.

Most of the shorebirds in the exhibit were injured and could not survive on their own in the wild. There are the common terns, Ike and Truro, the semipalmated sandpiper, and piping plover. On your next visit to the Aquarium, be sure to take a moment to watch the shorebirds in their exhibit—you'll be transported to warm summer days at the shore no matter what the weather is like outside.

Our new common tern was introduced into our Shorebirds Exhibit on December 3. Before that, we'd sent out some of her feathers to a laboratory where the sex of the bird was determined through DNA analysis, as male and female terns look almost identical. While the bird was in still quarantine, we learned that she was a female.

Ike stands on the left, Truro on the right

We also gave her a name, Truro. In the exhibit, Truro joined our other female common tern, Ike, as well as eight other birds. Because Ike had been the only tern in the exhibit since she was introduced as a juvenile almost seven years ago, we were uncertain as to how the terns would react to each other.

Truro on the left, Ike on the right

Surprisingly, Ike, the older bird, was afraid of Truro, while Truro was eager to be around other terns and would try to approach Ike. Over several weeks, Ike began to warm up to Truro and although they don’t interact very much we often see them standing within a foot or two of each other. Both terns have also been trained to approach the door of the exhibit to get fed their morning fish with a vitamin inside of it and Truro has caught on to the routine very quickly.

Come visit the shorebirds exhibit and get to know some of the beautiful birds on your local beaches! Here are some of the animals you'll find:

• Ike the common tern has been in the exhibit for several years
• Find out how Truro found her way to the Aquarium
• Meet the semipalmated sandpiper
• See what's for lunch in the Shorebirds Exhibit

In October we were lucky to have the opportunity to acquire another bird for our Shorebird Exhibit, a juvenile common tern. Common terns are smaller and more delicate than their relatives the seagulls. They are graceful fliers and you may have seen them at the beach, hovering in the air before plunging into the ocean to catch small fish. They breed in Canada and the Northern US and migrate to the coast of South America in the winter.

Our common tern in holding

Despite their name, common terns have experienced large declines in their population. They were hunted for their feathers in the late 19th century and were harmed by pesticide use in the 1970’s. Today they continue to be threatened by coastal development.

This tern was discovered emaciated and unable to fly on a beach near Orleans, MA, on Cape Cod in late August. She was brought to Wild Care where the rehabbers discovered that her right wing was injured. She had no fractures that were detectable from radiographs, so the injury was likely due to a torn tendon or ligament. The tern lived in an aviary through September and into October while her care-takers waited to see whether her wing injury would heal so that she could be released to migrate south with other terns in October. It became clear that the bird would not be able to fly well enough to be able to fish or migrate.


New England Aquarium staff picked her up in late October, just in time before some cold weather set in! The tern went into quarantine in an indoor enclosure. We were pleasantly surprised by how calm she was around people. She would squawk loudly in the morning to remind us that it was time to be fed her first fish of the day!

Our new common tern came to us from the same wildlife rehabilitation facility, Wild Care, as our semipalmated sandpiper. The exchange of these birds was mutually beneficial—Wild Care found a good home for two non-releasable birds and the Aquarium now has two great new exhibit animals that will help educate the public about shorebirds and their conservation.

Stay posted for an upcoming blog about the tern’s introduction in the exhibit.

In late October we introduced a new bird into our Shorebirds Exhibit—a semipalmated sandpiper.

A new resident: Semipalmated sandpiper

Semipalmated sandpipers are an abundant species of sandpiper. They spend the summer breeding season in the Arctic and winter along the coasts of South America. You can see them locally when they migrate in the spring and fall.
The name semipalmated refers to the short webbing between the bird’s toes which help it walk on mud or wet sand. Our semipalmated sandpiper shares the exhibit with two semipalmated plovers, which can get confusing when we talk about the birds!

A room with a view!

Most of the shorebirds in the exhibit were injured and could not survive on their own in the wild. The semipalmated sandpiper was found on Mayo Beach in Wellfleet, MA, on September 1 and was unable to fly due to a broken wing. She was brought to Wild Care, a wildlife rehabilitation facility in Eastham, MA. It was determined that the bird was would not be able to survive if she was released because she would not be able to fly well enough to complete her migration to South America.

We picked her up from Cape Wild Care and, after spending a month at our quarantine facility to make sure that she didn’t have any parasites or diseases that could spread to our other birds, she was introduced into the exhibit.

Can you tell the difference?

The semipalmated sandpiper has settled right in and can often be seen resting or foraging by probing in the sand alongside our least sandpiper. The least sandpiper looks very similar to the semipalmated sandpiper but can be distinguished by leg color. The semipalmated’s legs are black whereas the least’s are yellowish.

Come check out the shorebirds exhibit the next time you visit the Aquarium and see if you can spot one of our newest residents!

In April I posted a picture of four of our shorebirds camouflaged in their winter plumage. From top to bottom are a piping plover, semipalmated plover, sanderling and dunlin. Most of you could only find two or three of them, but look closely and there are four.


The birds are all currently in their summer breeding plumage and far less camouflaged. Come see if you can tell the difference!

What do shorebirds eat? In the wild they rely heavily on bugs and crustaceans they find on the beach, mainly in the wrack, or seaweed, that washes up and is found along the high tide line. In our exhibit, however, it would be a lot of work to constantly haul 50 pounds of wrack into the everyday and we might not know how much the birds are eating.



The public often thinks that we let the birds forage around in the exhibit for their food, and they're partly right. Carefully hidden behind rocks, logs and dunes are dishes for the birds to forage in. We load them up twice a day with a prepared diet called Flamingo Fare (flamingos also eat bugs and crustaceans so it's a great food for shorebirds too) and "live foods" like mealworms. Notice the carrots the mealworms are eating on the left. By "gut loading" our insects first we can assure the birds are getting even more nutrition.



Wax worms are their favorite. These moth larvae have the highest fat content of anything we serve them, I like to think of it as the ice cream of the bug world. No wonder these little inch-long bugs are what they pick out of their dishes first!



We also release a jar of crickets into the exhibit a few times a day and then you can really see the birds forage!

 Other food items we might offer are blackworms, trout worms, brine shrimp, fish eggs, copepods and maggots. Yes, maggots! Bon appetite!

-Kate

Meet our dunlin. She was found along the Cape Cod Canal in 2003 with a fractured left wing. Vets at the Cape Wildlife Center rehabilitated her before she found a permanent home in our exhibit. She can fly a little but not well enough to make her annual breeding migration from as far south as Texas all the way to northern Hudson Bay in Canada. This picture captures her in her winter plumage, check back soon to see her in her beautiful breeding colors!




-Kate

Our exhibit holds one common tern. We nicknamed her "Ike" before we found out she was a female. Ike was found as a chick in the summer of 2005 on a beach in southern Massachusetts. She was mistakenly though to be abandoned by her parents and was brought to a rehabilitation center before we eventually gave her a permanent home.



Tern parents often leave their chicks on the beach while they fish offshore. So if you ever see a tern chick without a parent watch it for a while and I bet you'll see an adult come back pretty soon with a beak full of fish. If you don't see a parent return then contact a local wildlife rehabber or your local animal control officer before you try to handle any wildlife.

Ike is perfectly healthy and can fly very well but we can't release her back into the wild. Common terns need their parents to show them how to migrate and forage for food. We sometimes see her catching live silversides out of the exhibit pool but she's not very good at it, she prefers to eat defrosted fish out of a bowl!

-Kate

Our exhibit holds two sanderlings, a male and a female. The male comes to us from a former exhibit and can fly very well.

The female was found in the winter of 2007 on a beach on Long Island. Vets in New York discovered severe fractures of her radius and ulna and successfully rehabilitated her, although she can not fly. She therefore has found a permanent home in our exhibit. You can tell her apart from the male because of her slightly droopy right wing.



-Kate

The most frequently asked question I get from our younger visitors is "how do you get out?" It does appear from the visitor side that when I'm in the shorebird exhibit I am in fact stuck since there's no visible door.

Here you can see my two long-time volunteers, Becky and Julia, behind the mesh feeding the fish. So how do we get in and out? Check back Friday to learn the answer!

-Kate

There are more than 800 species on exhibit, and each one is worth a closer look. This animal is one of 10 special animals to find when you visit during construction!
Our Virginia rail is an escape artist! She comes to us from a rehabilitation facility in Wisconsin. Before she was put on the plane and sent to us she escaped from her carrier at an airport security check-point. A chase ensued, they called for backup, and she was eventually corralled back into her carrier.

How many birds can you see in this picture? (answer below)


(click to Enlarge)

Well camouflaged in their winter plumage are, from top to bottom: our piping plover, semipalmated plover, sanderling and dunlin. They're currently molting into their more colorful breeding plumage. Check back for a less camouflaged photo of them this summer!

-Kate

Our piping plover "Pink" hatched on New Seabury Beach in June of 2003. Shortly after he was observed with an injured wing. Once captured he was brought to a rehabilitation center on Cape Cod where two breaks were found in his left wing. It was determined he would never fly again.

Fortunately he has found a permanent home in our shorebird exhibit along with our other piping plover, May, and five other species of shorebirds. He will be 6 years old this summer!


-Kate

May hatched on June 7, 2001 on the beach at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey. We know the exact date because the nest he came from was being monitored by the Coast Guard.

By early July of that same summer he was observed with an injured wing, captured and brought to a nearby rehabilitation center. Multiple fractures were found in his left wing and he would never be able to fly again. Fortunately, in August of 2001 he found a permanent home here at the New England Aquarium. You can find him in our shorebird exhibit. He will be 8 years old in a few months!

- Kate

 There are two piping plovers in our exhibit, both are males.

Piping plovers are a threatened species in Massachusetts, yet our state supports 15 percent of the world's population with approximately 550 of the Atlantic coast's 1,800 nests. Both our birds were injured in the wild and cannot fly.

You're about to enter a unique exhibit featuring many different species of fish, plants, invertebrates and birds all living together. Peer through the mesh and you will see, and hear, six species of shorebirds. A common tern, two sanderlings, a dunlin, a virginia rail, two semipalmated plovers and two threatened piping plovers can be seen foraging for food amongst the rocks, marsh grass and driftwood and sometimes even in the saltwater pool itself! Press play and watch as our sanderlings catch crickets!