14

Wader Study Group Bulletin

Table 1. Nest-buildingmaterialof Little Ringed Plovers Charadriusdubiusbreedingon the BulgarianBlack Sea coast in 2000 and 2001.
Type of nest-building material

2000

2001

(n = 47)

(n = 80)

Total

(n = 127)
number

Occurring naturally on the beaches

1 Shell fragments
2 Twigs
3 Mytilus galloprovincialis

42
40
19

70
67
35

112
107
54

88.2
84.3
42.5

Seaweed

14

28

42

33.1

Seeds

19

22

41

32.3
11.8

Snails

10

15

Reed

10

14

11.0

Bark, wood

12

13

10.2

Pieces of coal

11

8.7

l0

Sea snails

10

7.9

11

Insects

10

7.9

12

Crab's claw

6.3

13

Stones,cinder, piece of brick

5.5

14

Seeds of the Water Chestnut

3.1

15

Feathers

3.1

16

Barnacles

2.4

17

Leaves

1.6

18

Crustacea

1.6

19

Fish-bones

1.6

20

Pond snails

0.8

21

Piece of straw

0.8

22

Rapana

0.8

23

Meerchaum

0.8

Pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Stonesof cherries,plums and peaches
Seedsof watermelonand apple
Cigarette ends

2
1
3
1

6
6
3
4

8
7
6
5

6.3
5.5
4.7
3.9

28

Glass

2.4

29
30

Paper
Cellophane

1
0

1
1

2
1

1.6
0.8

31

Wood stick of an ice-cream

0.8

Garbage left on the beaches by tourists

24
25
26
27

Waste washed ashore by the sea

32

Polythenegranules

15

23

38

29.9

33

Plastics

12

16

28

22.0

34

Styrofoam

17

25

19.7

35

Black oil

16

12.6

36

Nylon

5.5

37

Rubber

1.6

38

Threads and cords

1.6

Reed: Mainly smallpieceswashedashoreby the sea.

Bark and wood: Thesewerepiecesof variousdifferent
sizes.Larger onesconcealedthe nestsand the brooding
bird. Smallerpieces,1-3 cm long,wereusedfor the nestplatform.Sometimesthe scrapewasfilled with piecesof
wood, especiallyif they were plentiful on the beach.

Coal: Thisconsisted
of small,lightpieces,1-2 cmlong,
that had beendispersedacrossthe beachesby the wind.
Seasnails:Thesehadbeenwashedashorealongwiththe
shells.TheywereusuallyTritia reticulataor of thegenus
Ceritiolum.They werequitesmall,only 0.5-1.5 cm long.
Insects:Thesewere dry anddeadandwind-dispersed
acrossthebeaches.It is possiblethatthebirdsbringthem
to the nests,astherewerefive individualsin one scrape.
Generally,though,they were seldomfound in the nests.
Crab's claws: These were to be found in small numbers

Buffetin98 August 2002

amongthe shellson the beachand are probably usedas

buildingmaterialin the sameway as shells.
Stones,cinder, piecesof brick: Stonesusedasbuilding
material

were small and resembled

shells. There

was a

piece of a cinder in one scrapeand a piece of brick in

another. They were larger and the bird used them for
concealmentof the nest and the eggs.
Seedsof Water ChestnutTrapa natans:Thesearecomparativelylargeandappeararoundthescrapes
by chance.
The birds arrangedthem aroundthe nestsfor concealment.

Feathers:Smallfeathers
foundsinglyandnotveryoften.
BarnaclesBalanusspp: Fragmentsprobablycollected
by the birds with the shells.

Leaves:Therewereold dry leavesonly in two scrapes.

Probablythe wind dispersesthem near the nests.

Dalakchieva: Little Ringed Plovers in Bulgaria

[] Crustacea: Occasionallydry individualswere foundin

the nests.They may have fallen in accidentally or the
birds collected

[]

Fish-bones:

them.

There were small fish bones in two nests.

Probablythe birds broughtthem with the shells.

[] Pond-snail: Only in one nest on the beach along the
marshAlepu. Probablythe birdsbroughtit accidentally

15

washed ashore from the sea and strewn across the beach in

piles(Type B), but sometimesit wasby single,isolatedobjects suchas sticks,stonesandplants(Type C). Presumably
theobjectswereusedto affordsomeconcealment
for thenest
and the broodingbird from predators.In a similar studyof

the nest sitesof Kentish PloversC. alexandrinus(= Snowy

Plover) it was shownthat nestslocatedunderobjectswhere
from the marsh.
therewere many objectsor in openplaceswheretherewere
[] Pieceof straw: There was one, 2 cm long, in one nest. few objectshad higher hatchingsuccessthan those built
Probablyit was broughttogetherwith the sticks.
besideisolatedobjects(Pageet al. 1985).Presumably,where
[] Rapana Rapana thomasiana:One nestwasbuilt close objectsare numerous,they do not serveas cluesfor predato a largerapanashell(a molluscintroducedfrom theFar tors, but singletwigs or stonesmay attracttheir attention.
East). The birds had used it to conceal the nest.
Therefore it seemsthat Type C nestscontribute least to
[] Meerschaum:Foundin only onenest,probablychosen hatchingsuccessand this is presumablythe reasonwhy, at
because of its resemblance to a stone.
16.3%, they are relatively uncommon.
Most frequently the nest was a scrape with varying
amounts
of building material arrangedin different ways.
Human garbage and waste
Usuallythe buildingmaterialwas spreadon the bottomand
Tourists leave a considerablequantity of garbage on the thewallsof thescrapeandconsisted
of smallshellfragments
beaches.Someof it canbe foundin thenestsof Little Ringed and twigs. The birds would also heap building material on
Plovers.Theseare mainly the seedsof pumpkin,sunflower, and aroundthe scrape.This probablyaddedto the concealwatermelonand appleandthe stonesof cherries,plumsand mentof the nestand reducedthe profile of the sittingbird.
peaches.They resembleand are similar in size to shellsand
During fieldwork, it becameevidentthat the distribution
stones.They are light and the birds can easily use them as of feeding sites(mostfrequentlyoutfallsof small rivers or
building material. Cigarette-endswere found in five nests, marshy places) influencesthe density and distribution of
singly in four casesbut in one nestthere were five. There nests.In particular, there were more nestson beachesthat
werealsopiecesof glassbottles,paper,cellophaneandeven were backed by large freshwatermarshes.Where nearby
a wooden stick from an ice-cream.
freshwaterconsistedof just a river mouthor smallpondthere
The sea washesashorea great variety and quantity of were only 2-3 nests.All nestswere built in the rangeof 2waste. This mixes with the shells and sticks, which are the

150 m from freshwater.

mainbuildingmaterialsusedby Little RingedPlovers.Most

commonon the Black Seabeachesare polythenegranules;
smallballs5-10 mm in diameterin a varietyof colours.They
are very light and the wind disperses
themon the beaches.
Variousplasticobjects,suchas containerlids, bottlesand
bottle-tops,canalsobe foundin thenests.It appearsthatthe
birdschosetheseitemsfor concealing
theirnests.Sometimes
small balls of styrofoamwere depositedin the nests.They
resemblethe polythenegranules,andare alsolight anddispersedby the wind. Unfortunatelyblack oil can sometimes

I wishto expressmy gratitudeto KonstantinPopovfor help

during the fieldwork, to Dr. Sc.Biol. Zdravko Hubenov for
the help in identifying the building material and to Prof.
Dimitar Nankinov for adviceon the manuscript.

be found in the nests as well. The sea washes it ashore and

Cramp, S. & K. Simmons (eds.). 1983. The Birds of the Western

occasionallywhole beachescan be coveredwith it. There

were ballsof black oil in 16 scrapes(12.6%), rangingfrom
severalcentimetresto big ashumanfist. Someof the brooding birds were also oiled. The black oil was removedfrom

Palearctic. Vol. 3. Oxford U P, Oxford.

Iankov, P. 1986. Some observationsof the birds of the orders Anseriformesand Charadriiformesin the RhodopiMountains.Orn. Inf. Bul-

each nest in which it was found.

Piecesof nylon, rubber,threadsand cordswere found in

singlenests.It appearedthat in mostcasestheseitemswere
used for concealment.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

REFERENCES

letin 19-20:111-121.

Kostadinova, I. (comp) 1997. Important Bird Areas in Bulgaria. BSPB

Conservation

Series. Book

1. Sofia.

Nankinov, D., S. Simeonov, T. Michev & B. Ivanov. 1997. Fauna of

Bulgaria, Vol. 26. Aves. Part II, BAS: 1-427.
Page, G., L. Stenzel & C. Ribic. 1985. Nest site selectionand clutch
predationin the Snowy Plover. Auk 102: 347-353.

CONCLUSION

Most Little RingedPlovernestsfoundon thebeachesof the

BulgarianBlackSeacoastwerebuiltbesideor underobjects
(55.1%,TypesB & C together).Thiswasoftenamongwaste

Bulletin98 August2002

Migrant shorebirds at Peninsula Valds, Argentina:

Report for the year 2000
LUISOSCARBALA1,2,VERONICALAURAD'AMICO2 & PAULASTOYANOFF
2
1CentroNacionalPatag6nico,CONICET, BoulevardBrowns/n 9120-Puerto Madryn,Chubut,Argentina,

e-maihluis@cenpat.
edu.ar; 2Universidad
Nacionalde la PatagoniaSanJuanBosco

Bala, L.O., D'Amico, V.L. & Stoyanoff,P. 2002. Migrant shorebirdsat PeninsulaVald6s,Argentina:Report
for the year2000. WaderStudyGroupBull. 98: 16-19.

INTRODUCTION

AND METHODS

It is sandywith fine and medium sediments.Caleta Vald6s

is on the eastcoastof PeninsulaVald6s and our study site

We reportobservations
of migrantshorebirdson the beaches
of PeninsulaVald6s,Chubut,Argentina(4230'S,6400'W),
duringtheir northwardstopoverin the year 2000. This follows a reportfor the 1999 season,which coveredjust one
site,Fracassobeach,publishedin Bala et al. (2001).
During February to May, we made weekly countsof
shorebirds

and recorded those with colour-bands

in three

areas of Peninsula Vald6s: Fracasso beach (10 counts),

Caleta Valds (7 counts)and PuntaNorte (3 counts)(Fig. 1).
Fracassobeach is a 3.5 km 2 marine wetland in San Jos6Gulf.

thereisthenorthern
part,whichis5 km2atlowwater.There
are many islandscoveredwith salt-tolerantvegetationand
the sedimentscomprisefine sandandmud. PuntaNorte is at
the northeastextremityof PeninsulaVald6sandis characterised by boulder beachesand rocky shores.
The benthic communities differ between the three sites.
The main shorebird foods available at Fracasso beach are

polychaetesandclams,at CaletaVald6s,polychaetes,and at
Punta Norte, crustaceansand mussels.

Pttq
San
Jo,
Gulf
0

Nuevo

Fig. 1. Locationof PeninsulaVald6s and the three studysites

Bulletin 98 August 2002

16

17

Bala et aL: Migrant shorebirdsat Peninsula Valdbs, Argentina

Table 1. Weekly shorebirdcountsat Fracassobeach, PeninsulaValdbs, Argentina,duringMarch-May 2000.

Week

Date

Calidris

Calidris

Limosa

Charadrius

Pluvianellus

canutus

fuscicollis

haemastica

falklandicus

socialis

Mar 2-3

57

316

Mar 8-9

81

Mar

16-17

10

15

22

Mar 21-24

100

200

300

490

200

Mar

7
8
9
10
11

Apr 5-7
Apr 12-14
Apr 17-18
Apr 27-28
May 4-5

Accumulated

28-31

180

80
6
0
0
0

1
1
0
1
0

165
200
106
10
200

0
0
3
0
0

6400

565

1580

total

bird/weeks

RESULTS

2000
3000
800
0
0

AND DISCUSSION

At Fracassobeach,Red KnotsCalidris canutustufa were the

dominantspecieswith a cumulativetotalof 6400 bird/weeks
anda peakcountof 3,000 in mid-April (Table 1). Thesefiguresare very similar to thosefor 1999 exceptthat the peak

Knots(Table 2). Peaknumbersof White-rumpedSandpipers

occurredin mid-April, ratherlater thanthe peakat Fracasso,
so it is possiblethat somebirdshad movedfrom one site to
the other.CaletaVald6s is by far the mostimportantsiteon
PeninsulaVald6sfor Two-bandedPlovers,with a peakpopulation in March of 1,500. Other species recorded were
Sanderling,with a flock of 100 in early March, Red Knot,
HudsonianGodwit, Magellanic Plover and Rufous-chested

count was earlier, at the end of March. However, the data

Dotterel

reflect a much reduced population compared to the early

1980s when peak numberswere 5,000-6,000 in early April
1980 and20,000 in early April 1981 (Brayton 1986, Morrison & Harrington 1992).
White-rumped Sandpipers C. fuscicollis at Fracasso
peakedat only 200, much lessthan the 1,280 recordedin
1999 thoughthe timing of the peak in the last ten days of
March was similar. Two-banded Plovers Charadriusfalklandicus,whichare largelyrestrictedto ArgentinaandChile
throughout the year, were recorded during every weekly

Only Sanderlingswere recordedon the rocky beachesof

Punta Norte with the samenumber, 200, being countedon
threeoccasions:week 1 (22 February), week 2 (2-3 March)
and week 5 (21-24 March).

Censuses

count in about the same numbers that have been recorded in

thepast.The peakwastowardstheendof March, like 1999.

As in previous years, a few Hudsonian Godwits Limosa
haemasticaand Magellenic PloversPluvianellus socialis
were recordedthough,unexpectedly,therewere no Sanderlings Calidris alba.
The largestnumbersof White-rumped Sandpipersand

Charadrius

Colour-banded

modestus.

Red Knots

As a resultof the InternationalShorebirdBandingProject's

sustained

effort

since

1994

to colour-band

Red Knots

throughoutthe West Atlantic flyway, a substantialproportion of the populationwas bandedby 2000. We systematically scannedthe knot flocks at Fracassobeachin order to
establishtheir origins.
We made 115 separateobservationsof colour-banded
birds, 1.8% of the aggregatetotalbirdsscanned(Table 3). A
substantialnumberof theseobservations
probablyrelateto
the samebirds being recordedin more than one scan.How-

Two-banded Plovers were recorded at Caleta Vald6s, about

ever, the minimum number of individual banded birds was

three times as many as at Fracasso,but virtually no Red

49 (basedon the aggregateof the maximumnumberof birds

Table 2. Weekly shorebirdcountsat Caleta Valdbs, PeninsulaValdbs, Argentina,duringMarch-May 2000.

Week

Date

Calidris

Calidris

Calidris

Limosa

Charadruis

Pluvianellus

canutus

fuscicollis

alba

haemastica

falklandicus

socialis

Charadrius
modestus

Mar 8-9

400

100

1500

Mar

21-24

50

900

Mar 28-31

300

1400

8
9
10
11

Apr 12-14
Apr 17-18
Apr 27-28
May 4-5

2
0
0
0

500
50
50
50

0
0
0
4

3
0
0
0

600
600
600
850

2
0
0
0

2
0
1
0

1400

105

6450

Accumulated

total bird/weeks

Bulletin98 August2002

18

Wader Study Group Bulletin

Table 3. Observationsof colour-bandedRed Knots by date and countryin which they were banded.
Date

Flock

size

Total

banded

Country in which banded

USA

24 March

103

29 March

71

29 March

80

30 March

417

18

12

06 April
07 April
13 April
13 April
14 April
14 April
14 April
14 April
14 April
14 April
14 April
18 April

60
58
2000
260
39
212
56
130
600
800
1200
311

4
4
21
5
8
6
1
3
1
4
14
12

4
4
13
3
6
5
1
2
1
3
10
11

115

49

Aggregatesightings

Argentina

Brazil

Canada

unknown

7
2
1
1

1
2
1

89

19

32

12

of banded birds

Minimum

individual

banded birds*

* The minimumnumberof individualbandedbirdsis the aggregateof the maximumnumberof birdswith eachbandcombinationrecordedin a single
scan.

with eachband combinationrecordedin a singlescan).Of

these,32 (65%) had beenbandedwhen stoppingover during northwardmigrationin Delaware Bay, USA, in 1997,
1998 or 1999. Twelve (24%) had been banded at other
locationsin Argentina, at least five when stoppingover at

been unableto trace its exact origin. (Any readerwho can

supplythisinformationis askedto contactus.Thebandcombinationwas: white flag left tibia, orangeband left tarsus,
whitebandrighttarsus.)The originof two otherbandedbirds
could not be determinedbecausethey had apparentlylost
their country-specificflag.
We found a significant negative correlationbetween
flock-sizeand the proportionof colour-banded
birdsfound

San Antonio Oeste, 200 km north of Peninsula Valdds. Two

hadbeenbandedduringstopoverin Brazil (onefrom Lagoa

do Peixe in April 1997) and onehad beenbandedin Canada
(becauseit carrieda white flag on its left tibia), but we have

in theflock (p = 0.004,rs= -0.679, n = 16;Fig. 2). There

10000

lOOO

lOO

10

0.001

0.01

0.1

Proportionbanded
Fig. 2. Flock-sizeof Red Knots at Fracassobeach, PeninsulaValdbs, plottedagainstthe proportionof colour-bandedbirdsin each flock
(note that log-scalesare used for both axes). There is a significantnegativecorrelation,as mentionedin the text.

Bulletin 98 August 2002

Bala et aL: Migrantshorebirdsat PeninsulaValds, Argentina

wouldseemto be onlytwo possibleexplanations:

eitherit is
a real effect or it is an artefactarisingfrom our scanning
method.It couldonlybe a realeffectif bandedbirdsaremore
likely to be found in small flocks.We can think of no reasonwhy thismightbe the case.On the otherhandit would
seempossiblethat, when scanninga largeflock, theremay
be someover-recordingof birdswithoutbands.We invariably scanbirdsthat are feedingbecausetheir legsare more
easilyseenwhenfeedingthanwhenroosting.However,this
also meansthat the birds are continuallyon the move. To
reducedoublecounting,we alwaysscanin only one direction. However,it is easierto avoiddoublecountinga banded
bird becauseit is recognisable.It is moredifficult to avoid
doublecountingunbandedbirdsbecausethey all look similar. It is likely that this problemis greaterfor large flocks
than for small onesbecausescanninga large flock takesso
muchlongerthat proportionatelymoreunbandedbirdsare
doublecounted.Clearly this is an effect that needsto be
investigated
andproperlyunderstood
becauseit canhavea
majoreffecton theresultsof studiessuchasours,especially
in relationto effortsto estimatetotalpopulations.For example,althoughtheoverallaverageproportionof bandedbirds
was 1.8%, it increasesto 5.6% if the four flocks of)500 birds

19

coveredour fieldwork expenses.JorgeUpton andFrancisco

Pertini (CentroNacionalPatag6nico),Maria de los Angeles
Hemfindez and Elena B. Eder (Universidad Nacional de la
Patagonia,Puerto Madryn) and Ariana Bruzzone, Melisa
Fernfindez Serverini, Natalia Cozzani and Valeria Gili

(UniversidadNacionaldel Sur,BahiaBlanca)helpeduswith
the fieldwork.

Patricia

Gonzfilez

and the Panamerican

ShorebirdProgramprovidedthebandinginformationfor our
resightings.We also thank Marcelo Bertellotti, Cecilia
D'Amico for their help aswell asGracielaEscuderofor her
assistance
astranslatorandHumphreySittersfor reviewing
the manuscript.
REFERENCES
Bala, L.O., M.A. Hernfindez & V.L. D'Amico. 2001. Shorebirdspresent
on FracassoBeach (San Jos6 Gulf, Vald6s Peninsula, Argentina):
Reportof the 1999migratingseason.WaderStudyGroupBull. 94: 2730.

Brayton, A.F. 1986. Shorebirdmigrationand habitat selectionat Peninsula Valdez, Argentina. Unpubl. manuscript,14 pp.
Morrison, R.I.G. & B.A. Harrington. 1992.The migrationsystemof the
Red Knot Calidris canutusrufa in the New World. WaderStudyGroup
Bull. 64, Suppl.: 71-84.

are excluded.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to emphasiseour gratitude to EcoCentro

PuertoMadrynandWetlandsfor theFutureProgrammewho

Bulletin98 August2002