Whether watching waves of Western Sandpipers at the Copper River Shorebird Festival in Alaska or playing shorebird trivia games while enjoying ice cream named after the famous Red Knot B95 at the Bahía San Antonio Shorebird Festival in Argentina, shorebird festivals have become local icons across the Western Hemisphere, celebrating migratory birds and a shared commitment to protect their habitat.
Infographics, like this one, are available for download and are a great way to keep your community engaged virtually. Photo: WHSRN Executive Office.
However, this year many of the festivals that were planned to occur during northbound migration may look a little different. Many countries in the Western Hemisphere are taking the necessary steps to protect people with voluntary or mandatory social distancing restrictions, and in many locations festivals have been canceled or postponed.
But there are still ways to use some of the same activities to inspire conservation action and create communities that are proud to welcome flocks of shorebirds during their grand migrations. We can adapt activities for online audiences, encourage solo or family activities in nature (where appropriate), and create interactive multi-media opportunities.
A young shorebird enthusiast shows her support for shorebird conservation by posing with the #WeAreAllShorebird wings! Photo: Laura Chamberlin.
To provide centralized, easy access to these resources, the content from shorebirdfestivals.com (festiavesplayeras.net in Spanish) has now been transferred to the Outreach Resources section of the WHSRN website. The “Connecting Festivals” initiative was originally started by the Copper River Migratory Bird Initiative (CRIMBI), and grew into a partnership between WHSRN and CRIMBI with support from the U.S. Forest Service. We are excited to share that these resources for empowering, promoting, and connecting shorebird festivals now have a new home on the WHSRN website.
As you adapt your festival or other community events to these new times and seek new and creative ways to engage your communities, we hope these resources will be useful. We will be adding more tools and ideas in the coming weeks to give you a diverse selection of activities.
Ways to Connect with Connecting Festivals:
- Species and issue infographics
- Coloring books
- Student curricula
- Games and puppets
- Past festival resources
How are you fostering togetherness around shorebirds, at a time when we cannot be together? Share your resources and join the conversation at the Connecting Festivals, Connecting Communities Facebook Group, the Shorebird Festivals Conversation on the Shorebird Forum, or email lchamberlin@manomet.org
Cover Photo: Illustration by Rocío Landivar.
