By: John van Dort.
Over the last ten years, the Gulf of Fonseca, a bay on the Pacific coast of northern Central America, has been found to host important numbers of shorebirds. This Bay is shared by three countries: El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The mouth of the Gulf is formed by volcanic elements in El Salvador and Nicaragua and measures approximately 30 km across. Beyond the mouth is a wider area with 254 km of coastline, of which El Salvador occupies 29 km on the western side, followed by Honduras with 185 km in the middle, and Nicaragua with 40 km in the east. Scattered in the Gulf is a mosaic of volcanic islands, with the northern coastline comprised of mangrove forests. Important economic activities in the area include the production of shrimp, sugar, melon, and salt, as well as cattle ranching.
Since 2014, Aves Honduras has annually carried out regular shorebird counts in the Honduran part of the Gulf as part of the Migratory Shorebird Project (MSP). MSP monitors shorebirds along the Pacific Flyway, from Alaska to Tierra a Fuego, during the non-breeding season. Trinational shorebird counts with teams in all three countries visiting field sites throughout the Gulf simultaneously were organized in 2017, 2018 and 2019, while similar counts in shrimp farm installations were organized in 2021.
Left: Members of Aves Honduras participating in shorebird surveys. Photo: Jorge Luis Murillo. Right: Part of a flock of 10,000 Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers at the high tide roost on Punta Condega on January 20, 2023. Photo: John van Dort.
Information collected from these efforts shows that the eastern part of the Gulf of Fonseca—roughly the area between Punta Condega and the El Jicarito and La Berbería wetlands—is of regional importance to shorebirds. This relatively small area regularly hosts more than 20,000 shorebirds, as well as more than 1% of the biogeographical populations of Wilson’s Plover (Charadrius wilsonia) and Double-striped Thick-knee (Burhinus bistriatus). By meeting these three thresholds, the site designated the Punta Condega – El Jicarito System Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) Site of Regional Importance in March. With this, it has also become the first WHSRN site in Honduras and the first declared for its importance of hosting significant numbers of Double-striped Thick-knee.
The site’s habitat diversity is reflected in the broad scope of stakeholders in the area, including artisanal fishermen, large shrimp farms, conservation NGOs, and municipal and governmental public landowners. These stakeholders all actively participated in the WHSRN site nomination through workshops held in 2020 and 2021.
John van Dort, member of the scientific committee of Aves Honduras, participated in the workshops with the community members of El Jicarito. Photo: Julia Salazar
Shorebird counts in the Gulf of Fonseca have also identified that it is an important wintering site for American Oystercatchers from the Atlantic states. Re-sightings of dozens of marked birds from Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in the Gulf of Fonseca have shown that American Oystercatchers regularly cross over from the Caribbean Sea to winter in this Pacific bay. The high tide roosts at Punta Condega, which are included in the WSHRN site, regularly host more than 100 oystercatchers between September and March. During the MSP surveys in January 2023, members from Aves Honduras documented several color-banded individuals at Punta Condega, including an individual that was first banded in Georgia’s Altamaha River Delta in September of 2005—so it is at least 18 years old! It was first seen in the Nicaraguan part of the Gulf of Fonseca in 2013, but since then has been seen almost every winter in neighboring Honduras, highlighting the ecological connections in the trinational area. The bird’s age and site fidelity speak volumes about the quality of this wintering site.
Red F6, here seen on January 20, 2023 at Punta Condega, Honduras, was banded in Georgia in 2005. Observers from Aves Honduras have reported this and other color-banded oystercatchers to the American Oystercatcher Working Group for years now. Photo: John van Dort.
The main estuary in the middle of the WHSRN site is also of great importance as a wintering and stopover site for North American populations of Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica), which are regularly seen congregating there on rising tides in high numbers, sometimes exceeding 2,000 individuals.
Cover Photo: The proposed WHSRN site in the Honduran part of the Gulf of Fonseca is also of great importance as a wintering and stopover site for Gull-billed Tern. Photo: John van Dort.
