These Western Sandpipers are part of the 1,300,000 shorebirds that use the Upper Bay of Panama each year during migration.
|
The gently sloping topography and the 5-meter tides in the Bay of Panama mean that several kilometers of mud are exposed each day to provide rich feeding grounds for shorebirds.
|
The city is growing and the most heavily used feeding areas are the mudflats closest to the city. The birds seen in the foreground need roosting areas during he highest tides, which are not found on city streets.
|
A Black-bellied Plover and a group of Short-billed Dowichers share the mudflat with Laughing Gulls. Gulls and other seabirds also migrate to the Bay of Panama during the winter months when seasonal upwelling produces a huge crop of fish for them to feed on.
|
This Ruddy Turnstone is one of several species that prefer to feed on rocky outcrops in the bay, instead of on mudflats.
|
Each year, Western Sandpipers migrate thousands of kilometers from the tundra of Alaska and northern Canada to Central and South America. Rich feeding grounds such as those found in Panama are rare along the migration route and each one must be preserved to give the birds an unbroken chain of stopover points during their journey.
|
Some of these Western Sandpipers in the Copper River Delta in Alaska may have been in Panama just a few weeks before this photo was taken.
|
Mangroves in the estuary of the Bayano River export many tons of nutrients each year which help fertilize the mudflats. Losing these mangroves could have a disastrous effect on shorebird populations.
|
Rice is one of the major agricultural products of the land surrounding the mangroves.
|
Raising cattle is another major activity in the rural areas adjacent to the WHSRN site.
|
Mangroves are nursery areas for many commercially valuable fish, and fishing is an important source of income for people living near them.
|
These children live in an isolated village on the edge of the mangroves. Their parents work as fishermen or on cattle ranches.
|
These mudflats are part of the WHSRN site and are heavily used by shorebirds each year. The narrow strip of mangroves surrounded by the city was not placed in the protected area and if they are converted to housing areas, the effect on shorebird populations is unpredictable.
|
Teaching people to appreciate shorebirds at bird festivals is one way to gain long-term political support for the preservation of their habitat.
|
Panama Audubon has been working with rural communities to give their inhabitants a better understanding of the importance of mangroves to their lives.
|
This billboard was erected as part of a public education campaign in the area surrounding the WHSRN site.
|
