Each summer, there's a miraculous sight to see about an hour from our place. Thousands of small semi-palmated sandpipers fly from above the Arctic Circle in Canada to South America, stopping to rest and feed at the Dorchester Cape in New Brunswick.
Naturalists say that it takes them about 48 hours of non-stop flying to do it.
This photo only shows a small portion of the estimated 150,000 birds that were on the shore of the Bay of Fundy the day we went to view them. It's magical to see them all, waiting for the tide to go out in order to feed on the minuscule shrimp that are in abundance there. Fundy has the highest tides in the world, and at this spot, the tide goes out for a mile, so at low tide, there's ample ground to search for shrimp.
The best time to see the birds is at high tide when they're close to shore, resting and waiting to eat.
They feed until they double their weight, which takes about two weeks, and then they fly non-stop for 72 hours on their annual winter migration to South America.
There's a platform with a naturalist just above the shore. It's a hushed atmosphere, all of us staying still and quiet not to disturb the birds since every bit of flight burns precious calories. Only the occasional predator bird startles them and their flight, 150,000 of them, is like a grey wave hovering over the sea.
We leave, as quietly as we came, transfixed by the wonder of it all.
