Shorebird Conservation, Management, and Monitoring workshop in Manitoba

The prairie landscape is deceptively rich in biological diversity. Rather than the large congregations of shorebirds that can be found in coastal estuaries and bays, the prairies hold groups of shorebird scattered across multiple locations in the region. As we drove across the region, each small wetland we passed seems to holds a small but diverse grouping of species including but not limited to migrating shorebirds including Semipalmated Sandpipers, White-rumped Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, and Stilt Sandpipers, but also local breeding shorebirds including Marbled Godwits, Willets, and American Avocets. Grasslands hosted species like Upland Sandpipers seen standing on fence posts of walking through the grass. A dry, recently tilled field, yielded a delightful surprise of resting American Golden Plovers with blazing black bellies and gold and white speckled backs.

This workshop helped to engage a group of dedicated people in Manitoba in shorebird conservation and monitoring. Using International Shorebird Survey protocol, the data collected here will contribute directly to the local understanding of how shorebirds use the Manitoban prairies and our collective understanding of long-term shorebird population trends. These data are collected across North and South America and are a significant resource for informing decision making at the U.S. and Canadian state/provincial and federal levels. Working together, we can monitor and help conserve shorebirds.

Want to know more about the workshop? Check out the Manitoba Important Bird Areas Program blog post here: https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2018/05/31/manitoba-shorebird-conservation-management-and-monitoring-workshop-day-1/

And here: https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2018/06/07/manitoba-shorebird-conservation-management-and-monitoring-workshop-day-2/

And here: http://shorebirdscience.org/information-exchange-and-monitoring-in-manitoba/