Linking Sites, Linking Communities

In May, hundreds of thousands of shorebirds stop at Delaware Bay to rest and to refuel on horseshoe crab eggs before their long journey to the Arctic to nest.

As a critical site for migratory shorebirds, Delaware Bay became the first Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) site, in 1986. Since 1997, biologists on Delaware Bay have been conducting extensive shorebird research, including banding, to guide conservation actions. On Delaware Bay, as at many sites, community engagement is a critical component of conservation efforts. Community engagement activities here include environmental education, beach stewardship, beach signage, volunteer and citizen science activities, and nature-based tourism. Thanks to predictable concentrations of shorebirds, festivals are also a successful activity on Delaware Bay, and there are four separate regularly occurring shorebird festivals in May.

A shorebird banding exchange included the participation of two Moose Cree First Nation representatives from James Bay, Ontario, Canada, and one US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) representative from Portland, Oregon. The Moose Cree First Nation (MCFN) stewards a critical stopover site for migrating shorebirds on its homelands—the proposed James Bay WHSRN site. This site exchange was an opportunity for MCFN community leaders to experience conservation efforts in other places along the North American Atlantic flyway, in order to increase their capacity to support James Bay activities. The USFWS representative was focused on learning more about bird banding in order to expand it at the recently dedicated Willapa Bay WHSRN site in Washington, United States.

WHSRN Site Partners – Celebrate Delaware Bay