Shorebirds

There are about 212 species of shorebirds world wide including jacanas, snipes, crab plovers, oystercatchers, ibisbills, stilt and avocets, stoen-curlews and thicknees, coursers and pratincoles, plovers, sandpipers, godwits, curlews, dowitchers, stints, phalaropes, and seedsnipes. A recent review of shorebird (wader) populations worldwide suggested that many species were declining in abundance. The reasons are not entirely clear and might be how the censuses have been conducted or human exploitation of shorebirds (waders) and their habitats. In North America, the issues are discussed in the US Shorebird Conservation Plan and the Canadian Shorebird Conservation Plan. An important role that the Waterbird Society has played in North American shorebird conservation is to provide a venue for discussions on reported declines in shorebird populations in the Americas. These discussion have been held in symposia and workshops aimed at identifying and rectifying the potential problems. The attached document outlines five hypothetical causes for the reported declines for discussion. The Sister Shorebird Program is a community based program that introduces children to shorebirds and their migrations across the Western Hemisphere.