Wherever there are birds, there’s a good chance you’ll also find Jim Wilson.
Armed with a keen eye and curiosity, he lugs his binoculars and spotting scope to marshes, beaches and nature reserves across New Brunswick, as he has for decades. Wilson is always on the lookout for a bird, especially if it’s one not yet added to list: of the approximately 442 bird species noted to exist in New Brunswick, Wilson has seen 400 of them.
That’s a record for the province.
“I was lucky enough to hit that milestone just recently. It was a Wilson’s plover. No relation,” he joked.
Wilson explained it’s extremely rare for the Wilson’s plover to be found in Canada. The medium-sized shorebird with a large, heavy beak is usually found along coastlines between the mid-Atlantic and South America.
Early bird catches the worm
When he first heard a Wilson’s …