Bahía de Todos Santos

Bahía de Todos Santos is a large marine bay in extreme northwestern Baja California State, close to the city of Ensenada. The WHSRN designation covers 5169 acres (2091.9 ha) of the most important shorebird habitats, centered on the Estero Punta Banda, and including intertidal mudflats and estuaries, sandy and rocky beaches, sand dunes and salt marshes. Although the area is not formally considered a protected area, Estero Punta Banda receives protection as a Ramsar site.

The site holds over 4% of the Pacific population of the nominate subspecies of Snowy Plover Charadrius nivosus, which is considered threatened in both Mexico and the USA, and Near Threatened at a global level. In addition to its importance for Snowy Plover, the Bahía de Todos Santos regularly holds important numbers of the roselaari subspecies of Red Knot Calidris canutus (an endangered species in Mexico), inornatus subspecies of Willet Tringa semipalmata, and Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa. At least historically, numbers for all three species reached the threshold for WHSRN status, and it is hoped that ongoing monitoring by Terra Peninsular and CICESE (the Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada) will reveal this still to be the case. The area is also important as a breeding site for California Least Tern Sternula antillarum browni(Special Protected status in Mexico) and the threatened Belding’s Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis beldingi.