World Shorebird Day 2017

World Shorebird Day was created to raise awareness of the need to protect shorebirds and their habitats throughout their life cycles; to raise public awareness of the need for continued shorebird research, monitoring, and conservation and to connect people with shorebirds through wetland sites around the world.For yet another year I was happy to do my part in helping to reach the ideals of this movement in spotlighting these threatened birds and took part in the seven day Global Shorebird Counting which took place over the days of  September 1^st to the 7^th.  I registered five locations across the island for counting and tallied 18 species of shorebirds with over 450 individual birds. Here are a few high points. 

High Counts  

Two hurricanes, Irma and Jose, to the north – east sent hundreds of shorebirds to the beaches and wetlands across the island.  This mass invasion of these feathered migrants emphasizes the importance of wetland habitats along migration routes, sadly many of these areas are disappearing and this is why the World Shorebird Day and initiatives like it which emphasize these fast, among other, are important.  I was not surprise to see high number of Semipalmated Sandpipers and Plovers as it is the for this time of year but I was surprised with the Short- billed Dowitchers and White-rumped Sandpipers totals, for example on September 6^th, World Shorebird Day, I counted over 90 White-rumped Sandpipers at the Woodbourne Shorebird Refuge.  Lesser Yellowlegs and Ruddy Turnstones were two other species with high counts. 

As the curtains came down on World Shorebird Day 2017 and I viewed the Actual Global Shorebird Counting Locations I saw how these little waders, these shorebirds, mobilized many persons across the globe.  I hope that my small effort on this tiny island of Barbados helped to raise awareness of the need to protect shorebirds and their habitats throughout their life cycles; to raise public awareness of the need for continued shorebird research, monitoring, and conservation and to connect people with shorebirds through wetland sites around the world. 

Enjoy your birding!!

The shorebirds I saw

1. Whimbrel

2. Semipalmated Plover

3. Ruddy Turnston9ne

4. Least sandpiper

5. Semipalmated Sandpiper

6. Short-billed Dowitcher

7. Spotted sandpiper

8. Solitary sandpiper

9. American golden plover

10.  Lesser yellowlegs

11.  Pacific golden plover

12.  Black-bellied plovers

13.  Red knot

14.  White-rumped sandpiper

15.  Pectoral sand

16.  Western sandpiper

17.  Greater yellowleg

18.  Sanderling