Effects of disturbance on foraging shorebirds on the coast of CO. Cleveland

Abstract

This project studied the disturbances caused to four species of shorebird at several different sites along the Cleveland coast. It found that the most common cause of disturbance were people exercising their dogs. Studies on a large sandy beach showed that most of the disturbances were caused by people walking their dogs there in the evening. Disturbance rates at a beach composed of sandy, rocky and shingle areas showed a wider variety of disturbance sources with dog-walking at high tide, and children and families visiting the rocky part of the beach at low tide, both causing substantial disturbance. No significant difference was found in different species reactions to dogs as opposed to people, neither was there a significant difference in their reaction to tall, easy to spot sources as compared to low, relatively inconspicuous disturbances. The disturbances observed were responsible for a loss of potential feeding time between 0.36% and 0.56%. The project concluded that this was unlikely to cause serious curtailment of the birds feeding activity and that restrictions on any of the activities discussed by the project were not justified.