Writing this on 21 April, World Curlew Day, I can’t help wondering about the fate of the world’s curlews. In October last year the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris) was officially declared extinct, and it is just a matter of time before the same is true for Eskimo Curlew (N. borealis). Meanwhile, in recent years the Hudsonian Whimbrel (Numenius hudsonicus) has experienced an estimated ~70% population decline.
Fortunately, there is good news. In March of this year, the Hudsonian Whimbrel was listed on Appendix I of the Convention on Migratory Species, which requires countries that are party to the convention to take action to protect the species and the habitats it depends upon. And many countries within the Caribbean basin have implemented measures to prohibit hunting of Hudsonian Whimbrel and other shorebird species.
Right from its earliest days, the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) has played an important role in efforts to conserve the species. The designation of three WHSRN sites in Suriname in 1989 (Bigi Pan, Coppenamemonding, and Wia Wia) helped secure critical wintering habitat for Hudsonian Whimbrel, followed by the designation of Reentrâncias Maranhenses in northern Brazil in 1991. Meanwhile, the 1990 designation of the Maryland-Virginia Barrier Islands helped safeguard a critical staging area during northbound migration. Since then, many additional WHSRN sites have been designated along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas, helping to conserve key habitats and sites. One of the most recent, Deveaux Bank in South Carolina (US) is a spectacular roost site holding up to 20,000 Hudsonian Whimbrel during northbound migration (25% of the Atlantic population).
During this anniversary year we expect to receive nominations for several new WHSRN sites for Hudsonian Whimbrel. While a site-based approach alone can’t save the species, one can only wonder how large the declines would have been if critical wintering and staging habitats had not been secured almost 40 years ago.
Photo credits: Brad Winn
