From 15 December 2019 to 15 February 2020, just prior to arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, teams from 13 countries unified to complete counts of shorebirds at 123 sites along the Pacific Flyway of the Americas. Across the more than 1000 monitoring units at the sites, 44 species and 614,991individual shorebirds were recorded.
These counts were part of the Migratory Shorebird Project (MSP). MSP, directed by Point Blue Conservation Science, is the largest census of shorebirds along the Pacific Flyway in the Americas, with partners from Alaska to Chile. MSP’s standardized protocol helps conservationists answer critical questions like: What habitat characteristics influence the suitability of coastal areas for shorebirds and how does human disturbance affect the use of coastal wetlands by shorebirds?
Shorebirds at Salineras (Salt Lake) El Conchal, de la Unión Bay, El Salvador. Photo: Gerson Rodriguez
These data was put into work recently in El Salvador where the WHSRN Executive Office has been working with SalvaNatura and the El Salvador Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) (Ministerio del Ambiente y Recursos Naturales) on the proposed WHSRN nominations of de la Unión Bay and Jiquilisco Bay. Utilizing MSP’s data exploration tools we reviewed the data recorded in previous years to identify species that reach WHSRN nomination thresholds of 1% of the biogeographic population. These tools, like maps of abundance, density analysis and population tendencies, can be used to support a variety of decision-making for the management and protection of areas used by shorebirds, as Victoria Galán, the MSP census coordinator in El Salvador said “They are a good tool for generating information and give us a complete panorama of a site.”
During the 2020 season El Salvador reported 26 species of shorebirds and 21,770 individuals. After reviewing the distribution of species along the entire migration route (see map 1), we reviewed several species in Jiquilisco Bay (3) and de la Unión Bay (4) including Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus). Map shows the distribution of the same species throughout the Gulf of Fonseca (2) and it shows its biggest concentration at de la Unión Bay (4). During the 2020 MSP survey, the El Salvador team estimated 3,000 individuals at Salineras (Salt Lake) El Conchal, representing 3.85% of the biogeographic population of the species, meeting the criteria required to recognize de la Unión Bay as a Site of Regional Importance.
Elsewhere, the effort of local partners is starting to pay off. In Nicaragua, the data generated was utilized in 2016 to support the nomination of the Estero Real Delta as a WHRSN site. In Colombia, the Sanquianga National Natural Park has started using MSP as a shorebird monitoring program on the intertidal mudflats in 2015. Diana Eusse, MSP coordinator for South America, stated “Until very recently, we had an information gap in regards to the shorebirds of the region, especially in Central America, and now we are beginning to fill that gap. MSP has also grown under the leadership of Latin Americans with, each member countries adapting the standardized protocol to fit their needs and realities”.
In the case of the MSP in Ecuador, the annual data has helped us to understand the shorebird populations of the Jambeli Canal south of the Gulf of Guayaquil. As this site is extremely large it is generally only monitored once a year. The data generated in 2015 helped to validate the site and qualify it within WHSRN said Ana Agreda, Aves y Conservación.
Left: National Natural Park Sanquianga, Colombia. Photo: Diana Eusse. Right: Shorebird counts at Canal de Jambelí, Ecuador. Photo: Ana Agreda.
With the integration of Guatemala in the shorebird counts of 2020, this completes monitoring along the Pacific Flyway of the Americas. Forty-seven organizations participated this year, including 13 local partners, 12 non-governmental organizations, four universities, six companies, five local and community organizations, six environmental authorities and one national armed forces group. The efforts of every monitoring unit, in every site, country, region and flyway provide us with important information on population tendencies over the long term in shorebirds, as well as the state of their habitats and the threats that they face.
In Central America, MSP is being implemented in close collaboration with the Central American Waterbird Census (CAWC), a monitoring program also including shorebirds and active in the region since 2011 and coordinated by the WHSRN Executive office since 2017. This collaboration has proved to be very beneficial in terms of increasing site coverage, gathering of more count data, and more efficient use of volunteer time and resources.
If you would like to be part of MSP in Latin America, you can contact the following people for more information: In the USA, Matt Reiter – Point Blue; in Mexico, Eduardo Palacios – CICESE; in Central America, Salvadora Morales – WHSRN Executive Office; and in South America, Diana Eusse – Asociación Calidris.
Cover Photo: Mixed flock in flight. Photo: Maina Handmaker.
