Our Impact

Advancing Shorebird Conservation: Outcomes and Impact

Science & Research

11 shorebird species have population trend analyses, for the hemisphere and for the Central and South America region.
Species trend analyses were used as part of updating shorebird status for the IUCN Red List.

ON-THE-GROUND CONSERVATION

Results on human disturbances have allowed local governments and area managers to design strategies to reduce associated impacts.
Population trends and habitat changes documented as part of MSP are being used to evaluate protected WHSRN area design and zoning agreements in some of them.

Conservation Planning

9 sites have been included as part of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN), an initiative led by Manomet, and at least two countries (Colombia and Chile) have used this data to evaluate the status of Important Bird Areas (IBA) and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA).
Shorebirds, the results we have obtained, and evaluations of conservation actions have contributed to policies and laws in different countries. Additionally, the project has invested in producing useful tools to inform public policies. Success cases with public policies have been related to regulating recreational activities that cause bird disturbance.

COMMUNITY

Local communities have benefited from livelihood conservation processes through this project, for example, with investment in coastal area recovery or habitat restoration, conservation agreements, or training and capacity strengthening.
Medium and small shrimp farming and salt production companies and facilities have benefited from production site adaptation or biodiversity-friendly spaces, design of more shorebird-friendly management practices, or training and experience exchanges between producers.
Some tourism and recreation destinations coincide with important shorebird sites. Some of these sites have support in experience design, as well as in developing shorebird-friendly offerings. This interest has promoted ecotourism and bird watching in sites that had not been considered, in addition to having local operator leadership.

Supporting women in science

In most Latin American countries, those who coordinate and carry out MSP activities are women. In the past four years, several women attended a seminar on how to integrate gender perspective in nature conservation processes.

Read more about the impact of our conservation efforts in our Annual Reports.

PUBLICATIONS

Shorebird population trend estimates were used as ecosystem indicators in California for the San Francisco Bay State of the Birds

State of our Estuary

Migratory Shorebirds Project – Biophilia

Press release: The 20th Biodiversity Conservation Awards distinguish projects to preserve the migratory shorebirds in Latin America

2023-2024

Recreational disturbance tool kit to reduce the impacts of recreational disturbance on shorebirds in the Pacific Americas Flyway

British Columbia Coast BirdWatch Newsletter

Occupancy trends of overwintering coastal waterbird communities reveal guild-specific patterns of redistribution and shifting reliance on existing protected areas

Why the Fraser Estuary is one of our conservation priorities

2022-2023

An impact evaluation of conservation investments targeting long-distance migratory species

2021-2022

Contributed MSP to the Pacific Americas Shorebird Conservation Initiative.

Impact of human disturbance on the abundance of nonbreeding shorebirds in a subtropical wetland. Biotropica.

Winter population trends and environmental drivers for three species of temperate shorebirds

2020-2021

Published a 20-year trend analysis including all shorebirds counted from 1999-2019 in Avian Ecology and Conservation

Compiled an update to the 1987 report on the Fraser River Estuary and published this in BC Birds

Hemisphere-wide collaboration to further understanding of migratory shorebird declines

Barbaree B. A., M. E. Reiter, C. M. Hickey, K. M. Strum, J. E. Isola, S. Jennings, L. Max Tarjan, C. M. Strong, L. E. Stenzel, W. D. Shuford. 2020. Effects of drought on the abundance and distribution of non-breeding shorebirds in central California, USA. PLoS ONE 15(10): e0240931.

Reiter, M. E., E. Palacios, D. Eusse-Gonzalez, R. Johnston González, P. Davidson, D. W. Bradley, R. Clay, K. M. Strum, J. Chu, B. A. Barbaree, C. M. Hickey, D. B. Lank, M. Drever, R. C. Ydenberg and R. Butler. 2020. A monitoring framework for assessing threats to nonbreeding shorebirds on the Pacific Coast of the Americas. Avian Conservation and Ecology 15 (2):7

The shorebirds distribution and abundance in Sanquianga National Park and Bocana de Iscuandé, Nariño, Colombia

The Red de Observadores de Aves de Chile -ROC has advanced analytical tools to estimate relative shorebird abundance in MSP sites as a public resource for conservation. MSP partners in Latin America and Chile received training on how to use these tools. Code and manuals were shared publicly in a GitHub repository to facilitate use by collaborators in other Latin American countries. Results are publicly available at: www.avesplayeras.cl