From The Field: Fall 2023

Jeanne O'Rourke | December 1, 2023 |

First Ever Amazon Shorebird Workshop

Manomet recently led a team of 15 specialists from 7 partner organizations on a 10-day onsite workshop to observe shorebird use along the Brazilian Amazon River. Juliana Bosi de Almeida, Manomet’s Managing Director, Flyways, coordinated the effort, which is the first ever of its kind. The activities in Brazil are part of a larger project to understand how many shorebirds use the Amazon Basin rivers as stopover sites, and how they distribute themselves in this region, which is greater than two thirds of the continental United States.

Preliminary efforts were conducted in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia the previous year, but this is the first time shorebirds using the Brazilian side of the Amazon were the main focus. Our partners on the survey included the Brazilian National Institute for Amazon Research (INPA), Point Blue, the U.S. Forest Service, University of Massachusetts, SAVE Brasil, Corbidi, and Asociación Calidris.

During the workshop, the team compared and contrasted the habitats found in the different countries, while also assessing habitats and shorebirds found along the Solimões River (the Brazilian name for upper Amazon River). We are still gathering information from the bird lists and will share the number of birds and species we found in the near future.

Salt Producers & Shorebirds: Honduran Pacific Updates

Recently, working in collaboration with the boatmen dedicated to tourism in this site, Manomet conducted an exploratory field trip to visit the islands, beaches, and mangrove areas of San Lorenzo Bay in the Honduran Pacific to identify areas that shorebirds use. During the 4-hour boat trip, we observed Whimbrels, Marbled Godwits, Ruddy Turnstones, Short-billed dowitchers, Black- bellied plovers, and a variety of waterfowl.

Low tide offered us the opportunity to appreciate the natural areas possibly used by shorebirds to feed and rest, and how these areas and salt farms can also provide an ideal environment for migratory birds.

Bird-A-Thon Results

So many of you got out and counted birds by sight or sound for the communal Manomet Bird- a-Thon list on October 14 – thank you! We exceeded our goal of 400 species counted globally. The final results are impressive: participants submitted 141 checklists and observed 661 species, a figure that’s a whopping 277 more than last year (if anyone’s counting, and we are!). We also had an amazing geographical representation, with birders logging lists for Manomet in Argentina, Canada, Columbia, Ecuador, Israel, Nicaragua, Paraguay, as well as the U.S.