WHSRN Week
A Week to Celebrate, Connect, and Inspire
What began in 2024 as the Big Day at WHSRN Sites is expanding into WHSRN Week—a full week dedicated to celebrating our sites, sharing local stories, and strengthening our Hemispheric Network as part of the celebration of World Shorebirds Day.
This year’s edition will include a mix of local and virtual activities. We’ll kick off the week with a special shorebird identification webinar led by Pablo Gigy Gregoret, offering tips on field ID and monitoring. We will also have two creative virtual workshops (see events calendar below). The week wraps up with a coordinated Shorebird Big Day on Saturday, September 6, when sites across the Americas will count birds and share their observations.
WHSRN Week is an open invitation to activate your site in whatever way fits best—whether through science, education, celebration, or storytelling. The goal is to elevate the visibility of your work, engage your community, and remind us all that local action has continental impact.
Participation is flexible, and creativity is encouraged. WHSRN’s Executive Office provides materials and support to help amplify local efforts across the network.
Calendar of Events
Monday, September 1
Talk: “Getting to Know Shorebirds”
With Pablo Gigy Gregoret
Discover who these tireless travelers are and why protecting them is so important.
7:00 PM Argentina – 7:00 PM Saõ Paulo (Brasil) – 3:00 PM Mazatlán (México)
Register here
Wednesday, September 3
Workshop: “Between Stitches and Tides”
With Vianney Ramírez
A creative session to reimagine shorebird photographs through embroidery.
7:00 PM Argentina – 7:00 PM Saõ Paulo (Brasil) – 3:00 PM Mazatlán (México)
Register here
Workshop: “Lines in Flight”
With Manuel Sosa
A drawing journey to capture the grace, form, and migratory spirit of shorebirds.
7:00 PM Argentina – 7:00 PM Saõ Paulo (Brasil) – 3:00 PM Mazatlán (México))
What to bring: paper and pencil
Register here
World Shorebird Day Celebration
Saturday, September 6
Join WHSRN sites across the Hemisphere in counting and sharing shorebird observations throughout the day. More information below.
Let’s Count Birds and Share Stories
During the week, join the celebration by conducting a shorebird count at your WHSRN site and sharing your observations. Make sure to register in advance to receive exclusive materials to support your participation. On the day of your bird count, don’t forget to share your eBird checklist with the account WHSRN_RHRAP to help us capture a network-wide snapshot of shorebird presence.
You can also share photos and videos on social media by tagging @whrsn_rhap or using #WHSRN. At the end of the week, send your content by email to aferreira@manomet.org so that we can spread it to the entire network. Don’t forget to include important information such as: name of the site, author of the photo, species and/or details of the people in the photo.
A Look Back at 2024
Partners in 13 countries joined the celebration, recording 44,888 shorebirds across 39 species. The most abundant was Wilson’s Phalarope, with an impressive 18,714 individuals. Take a look to 2024 highlights here
Don’t see your site on the map? Let’s change that!
Be part of this year’s celebration by registering your participation and sharing your shorebird count with us. All you need to do is sign up and submit your eBird checklist to WHSRN_RHRAP. Let’s put your site on the map and show the strength of our network!
This year also kicks off the countdown to WHSRN’s 40th anniversary in 2026—a perfect time to build momentum together.
Join however it best fits your site!
Resources to Support Your Activities
Whether you’re engaging school groups, local communities, decision-makers, or nature enthusiasts, we’ve got materials to help you make the most of your celebration. Explore and choose what best fits your audience and activity. All resources are free to use and adaptable to your local context.
FAQ
It’s a shared annual initiative across WHSRN/RHRAP sites to celebrate migratory shorebirds, strengthen connections between sites, highlight local conservation work, and build a hemispheric community through collective action.
Everything counts! You can plan bird counts, nature walks, school events, workshops, talks, art activities, or simply share your site’s work on social media. Participation is flexible and can be adapted to your site’s interests and capacity.
The next edition will take place over the course of a full week, September 1 – 7. Expanding the celebration to a week gives sites more time to organize and share their activities.
All WHSRN Sites and their local partners: organizations, schools, community members, rangers, volunteers, guides, and more. The celebration is open and inclusive.
Because your site is part of a continental network. What happens locally has a real impact for thousands of migratory birds. By participating, you help strengthen connections across the network, celebrate your local leadership, and share the value of your conservation work.
WHSRN’s Executive Office will offer communication materials, outreach templates, activity ideas, graphic resources, social media support, and visibility to help boost your local efforts.
During the week, you can share photos and videos on social media by tagging @whrsn_rhap or using #WHSRN. At the end of the week, send your content by email to aferreira@manomet.org so that we can spread it to the entire network. Don’t forget to include important information such as the name of the site, author of the photo, species and/or details of the people in the photo.
This year marks the beginning of the countdown to WHSRN’s 40th anniversary in 2026. It’s the perfect time to build momentum, strengthen the sense of belonging, and celebrate decades of collaborative conservation.
Cover Photo: Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) at WHSRN Site Bahia de todos Santos, Mexico. By JonathanVargas.
Photo Shorebirds Big Day 2024 at WHSRN site Humedal Marino de Coihuín, Chile. Photo: Gabriela Contreras.
