Shorebirds are celebrated each year on September 6. Come join the celebration!

“World Shorebirds Day is an important day for connecting with other people to learn more about the plight of these species, and for organizations such as Manomet to share how important conservation and management practices can restore and save them for generations to come,” shares Brad Winn, Director of Shorebird Habitat Management.

 

Shorebirds undertake impressive migrations and rely on specific habitats and food sources to survive, but these resources are increasingly under threat from human-induced losses. Shorebirds are showing long-term declines in all of the world’s flyways. Here are just a few of the declines we’re seeing on the U.S. Atlantic Flyway.

 

  • 80 percent decline in rufa Red Knots wintering in Tierra del Fuego in the last 20 years.
  • 80 percent decline in Semipalmated Sandpipers wintering on the northern coast of South America in the last 30 years.
  • 50 percent decline in the number of Whimbrels that stop-over in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States in the last 15 years.

With this in mind, World Shorebirds Day was created with the following aims:

 

  1. 1. To raise public awareness about the need to protect shorebirds and their habitats throughout their life cycles;
  2. 2. To raise public awareness about the need for ongoing shorebird research;
  3. 3. To connect people with shorebirds through important shorebird sites around the world;
  4. 4. To get shorebird enthusiasts to introduce shorebirds to more birdwatchers;
  5. 5. To raise awareness about the need for increased funding for shorebird research, monitoring and conservation.

 

How can you join Manomet and other leading bird conservation leaders to celebrate?

 

Join the counting!

This year’s Global Shorebird Counting will take place September 2-6, 2016. Have your family and friends join you at any shoreline, coastal waterway or wetlands area to identify and count how many different shorebirds of each species you see. Register your site for the event here and contribute your results to the 2016 global totals!

 

Learn more!

Attend a workshop or presentation being offered in your local community to learn more about the amazing journeys of these magnificent birds and the many threats that can harm them and us. Explore one such journey here.

 

At Manomet we conduct original scientific research to build our understanding of why shorebirds are declining and how to recover their populations. We work throughout the hemisphere with partners at critical sites to protect shorebird habitat. Through specialized training, we build the capacity of partners to manage habitats for shorebirds.

 

For more information about Manomet’s work on shorebirds, visit our website or contact Brad Winn at bwinn@manomet.org.