Conservation and Management

Shooting And Trapping

Much sought during market-hunting days but apparently more resistant to hunting than many other species because of wariness, high flight speed, and relatively small flocks. Numbers decreased in New England late in nineteenth century, but thought to represent aversion to areas where hunted rather than population decline. Three men shot 270 in 2 d in May 1842 on 1 island in Massachusetts (Mackay 1892). Law passed in 1870 prohibited spring shooting (Bent 1929). Low levels of genetic heterozygosity may indicate relatively recent population bottleneck, perhaps from massive hunting pressure (Baker and Strauch 1988), but no evidence that this represents threat to species.

Pesticides And Other Contaminants/Toxics

No evidence for eggshell thinning during DDT era (Morrison and Kiff 1979).

Disturbance At Nest And Roost Sites

May be more sensitive to disturbance than many other birds because especially wary, flushing at long distances at nest and during feeding and roosting. Nevertheless, no evidence for desertion of nest or roost sites.

Degradation Of Habitat

Breeding habitat seems secure everywhere because far beyond most human occupation and development. Exploitation of arctic oil fields would cause some habitat loss but unlikely to be severe. Threats to coastal wetlands and concerns about staging areas (Myers 1983) apply to this species, geographically and ecologically wide-ranging but with definite concentration points. However, considered at relatively low risk from habitat alteration (Page and Gill 1994). Nonbreeding habitat is being lost in direct proportion to “reclamation” of coastal tide flats by filling and dredging. After reclamation at Teesmouth, U.K., densities higher than before reclamation, and territorial behavior may have increased (Townshend et al. 1984).

Bloodworm harvesting significantly impaired foraging in Bay of Fundy; prey density and availability, foraging space, and capture rate (reduced 58–68%) all lower in sediment that had been harvested (P. Shepherd pers. comm.).

Human/Research Impacts

Radio transmitters may have raised likelihood of death at Teesmouth (Whitfield 1985).

Measures Proposed And Taken; Effectiveness

Common at several sites protected by Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. No specific measures proposed for management, thus no responses documented. Restored intertidal mudflats used in California, but numbers did not equal those of natural mudflats (Wilcox 1986).