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Current WHSRNews
June 24, 2008
In this issue:
- New WHSRN Species Conservation Plan now available: Dunlin.
- News of People:
- Steve Wendt of Canada receives the 2008 NABCI Award
- Abel Eduardo Castillo Valtierra receives Mexico’s National Ecological Merit Award
- Birding for color-banded birds: Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus).
- WHSRN-partners receive grants from NMBCA for shorebird conservation.
- The Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership is now online.
- New club for kids: Friends of the Red Knot (FoRK) in Baltimore, Maryland.
New WHSRN Species Conservation Plan now available: Dunlin.
In response to the conservation priorities established in the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan, the WHSRN Executive Office has been working with shorebird experts in partner organizations to develop targeted Species Conservation Plans. In addition to summarizing what is known about a species’ ecology, status, habitat requirements, threats, and important sites, plan authors identify and prioritize conservation actions needed to stop or reverse the species’ population decline. The most recently completed plan is for the Dunlin (Calidris alpina).
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| Dunlin/© Steve Mlodinow. |
News of People:
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Steve Wendt receives the 2008 NABCI Award.
Steve Wendt, Canadian Wildlife Service (retired).
Steve Wendt, retired Director of Populations and Conservation Management Division, Canadian Wildlife Service, was recently chosen by the U.S. Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) and the Association of Joint Venture Management Boards as one of three distinguished recipients of the 2008 NABCI Award. Many of our readers know and admire Steve as an extraordinary person, biologist, and advocate for avian conservation in Canada and throughout the Americas, but he is especially dear to the WHSRN community for his 10 years of service as the immediate past-Chair of the WHSRN Hemispheric Council. Our heartiest congratulations to Steve on this most deserved recognition of his outstanding career. Please read more about Steve and this Award at http://www.nabci-us.org/awards08.htm. - Abel Eduardo Castillo Valtierra receives Mexico’s National Ecological Merit Award.
At a special event on June 5th hosted by SEMARNAT (Mexico’s Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources), Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa awarded Professor Abel Eduardo Castillo Valtierra with the prestigious National Ecological Merit Award for 2008 for his outstanding achievements per the category “Individual.” Professor Castillo Valtierra, who works in the Secretariat of Public Education, has been a constant advocate for the conservation of shorebirds in the State of Nayarit, especially at Marismas Nacionales—a WHSRN Site of International Importance. His tireless efforts have resulted in conservation projects throughout the State, most notably the education-oriented Nauyar’ixu Botanical Garden that opened this year and includes a wetland and bird observatory. ¡Felicitaciones tan sinceros, Profesor!
Professor Castillo Valtierra receives his award from Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa.
To learn more about this Award, please visit http://www.semarnat.gob.mx/educacionambiental/Pages/PremioMeritoEcologico.aspx (in Spanish).
Birding for color-banded birds: Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus).
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| Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), color-banded in Colombia. |
Right tibia (upper leg): Metal/Colour - Orange or Black.
Right tarsus (lower leg): None.
Left tibia: Flags - Medium Green*/Yellow [*Double letter code].
Left tarsus: None.
If you see a color-banded Whimbrel, please carefully take note of its particular marking scheme and send the information, including the date and location of the sighting, to Richard at calidris@calidris.org.co and rjohnston@calidris.org.co.
WHSRN-partners receive grants from NMBCA for shorebird conservation.
More than $4.4 million in grant funds were awarded to partners of 37 projects in North America, the Caribbean, and Latin America this fiscal year under the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA), administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Division of Bird Habitat Conservation. Of these, 11 projects contain activities designed to directly benefit migratory shorebirds. It’s our pleasure to share the news of the following partners’ successes in this very competitive, partnership-based grants program:
- Colorado Division of Wildlife for “Factors Influencing Rangewide Survival of Mountain Plover Chicks.”
- The Nature Conservancy for “Rocky Mountain Front Conservation Easement Project” (benefiting Long-billed Curlew).
- Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology for “The Migratory Connectivity of Hudsonian Godwits.”
- Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory for “U.S.-Mexico Grassland Bird Conservation, Phase VI” (benefiting grassland-associated shorebirds).
- Pronatura Noreste, A.C., for “Improving the Ecological Connectivity of the Grassland in Chihuahua, and New Mexico” (benefiting grassland-associated shorebirds), and for “Sister Sites for Piping Plover Conservation and other Shorebirds in Nesting and Wintering Areas of North America.”
- BirdLife International for “Strengthening the Alliance: Conservation of Key Sites for Grassland Migrants” (benefiting grassland-associated shorebirds).
- AQUASIS (Associação de Pesquisa e Preservação de Ecosistemas Aquáticos) for “Migratory Shorebird Conservation and Shrimp Farming in Northeast Brazil.”
- New Jersey Audubon Society for “Assessing population status, structure and conservation needs for Semipalmated Sandpiper” (in South America).
- Nature Saskatchewan for “Stewards of Saskatchewan: Habitat Conservation for Bird Species at Risk” (benefiting Piping Plovers).
- Aves Uruguay for “Shorebird Use of Rice Fields, Uruguay.”
The Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership is now online.
In 1999, the Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership was formed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Today, it enjoys more than 15 partner organizations, including federal, state, and local agencies, civic groups, nonprofit nongovernmental organizations, sand and gravel companies, and other businesses. Its mission is to study and help to protect endangered Interior Least Terns, threatened Piping Plovers, and other at-risk species within the Platte, Loup, and Elkhorn River systems in Nebraska. It also is committed to educating the public about these species and involving local communities in conservation efforts. The partnership’s new Website, launched this spring, is generously hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln at http://ternandplover.unl.edu. Check it out! New club for kids: Friends of the Red Knot (FoRK) in Baltimore, Maryland.
We were recently contacted by a wonderful club at GreenMount School in Baltimore, Maryland, where kids get together not only to learn about the Red Knot (Calidris canutus)—a highly imperiled migratory shorebird species—but also to do stuff for it. What makes this club extra special? Its founding fathers are only 12 years old! We couldn’t resist sharing their story with our readers...
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| Members of FoRK, with one very large Red Knot! |
