WHSRN Sites

The Network currently has 69 sites in 10 countries, from Alaska in the north to Tierra del Fuego in southern South America. The

Photo Credit: Charles Duncan

first site was the Site of Hemispheric Importance at Delaware Bay, United States, dedicated in May 1986. One of the most recent sites added to the Network is the first WHSRN Site in Paraguay - Bahía de Asunción. This Site of Regional Importance was designated in January 2008.

There are three categories of Sites and one of Landscapes, according to their importance for shorebirds:

Sites/Landscapes of Hemispheric Importance:
- at least 500,000 shorebirds annually, or
- at least 30% of the biogeographic population for a species

Sites of International Importance:
- at least 100,000 shorebirds annually, or
- at least 10% of the biogeographic population for a species

Sites of Regional Importance:
- at least 20,000 shorebirds annually, or
- at least 1% of the biogeographic population for a species

Other Information

For information on nominating a site, click here.

View the Sites List.

View Interactive Site Maps with Google Maps.

Latest estimates of biogeographic populations of most North American shorebirds are available from the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan.

For other species (that do not occur in the United States), please use the estimates in the book "Waterbird Population Estimates" – 3rd edition by Wetlands International.