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When I think of a shorebird, I do not think of a creature that breeds in a burrow. And I certainly don’t picture a striking white and black bird, with long grey legs, partially webbed feet, and a heavy black bill, standing guard over multiple burrows to shoo wayward chicks back in when they stick their heads out for a peek. Enter the Crab Plover Dromas ardeola, evidently the childcare innovator of the shorebird world. Crab Plover. Photo: Peter Wächtershäuser, Wikimedia Commons  Mohammed Almalki and colleagues, scientists based in Saudi Arabia and the UK, do think of Crab Plovers when they think of shorebirds. They report on this delightful bird in the Wader Study Group Bulletin (volume 121 issue 3). The Crab Plover is endemic to the Indian Ocean, its heavy black bill is specialized for crab eating (hence the name), and it is the only shorebird species to nest in an underground burrow. Why go to the trouble of digging a two-meter long burrow for nesting? This bird breeds in extremely hot environments – on desert islands and coasts around the Arabian Peninsula – and during the hottest time of the year (April to August). Indeed, in June 2012, Almalki and colleagues measured outside temperatures at their study site ranging from 30°C at night to 50°C in the middle of the day, on average. Yet within the 11 burrows they measured, using tiny temperature dataloggers called iButtons, the inside temperature was relatively stable at 35.0 ± 0.18°C. So the burrow serves a purpose. Keeping the eggs within the optimal range for incubation (rather than temperature more suitable for cooking). The burrow incubates the eggs, allowing the adults to go forage. The burrow also serves as protection against predation, keeping eggs safely hidden inside. But what happens when the chicks hatch? Chicks are not safe if they emerge from the burrow; yet guarding a burrow means time away from foraging and time spent in the hot sun. As part of their study on breeding ecology, Almalki and colleagues individually colour marked adults, labelled nest-burrows (with numbers on plastic spoons), and recorded behavior using cameras. In doing so, they made an interesting observation. They were able to document several occasions when most adults had left the colony, but one adult remained, to prevent the chicks from leaving their burrows while their own parents were away. Beyond observing cooperative care in Crab Plovers, and finding stable temperatures inside active nest-burrows, the study revealed other key findings on the breeding ecology of these wonderful birds. By combining molecular sexing of blood samples with standard morphological measurements, the authors found that bill length is the most reliable morphological trait indicating the sex of Crab Plovers (males have longer bills, wings and tarsus lengths than females). They also found that both males and females feed their chicks (though females tend to feed more often). Finally, this study examined day-night cycles in chick feeding, finding higher feeding rates during the day than at night. Professor Tamas Szekely of the University of Bath, a co-author in the study, sums it up well, “It was exciting to work with Crab Plovers. They are very unusual shorebirds because of their specialised habits, and a lot remains to be learned about their breeding behaviour."

With a little bit of ‘basic math’, Russian biologist Eldar Rakhimberdiev shows how changes in seasonal survival may be used as a tool to detect problems in bird populations. ‘A dip in survival during a certain period or in a certain place, means the population cannot cope with the problems they are facing there’, Rakhimberdiev says.   ‘Seasonal survival is the key to effective protection’ ‘It’s just basic math’, Rakhimberdiev says jokingly. Nevertheless, many biologists may frown while reading his latest article in Journal of Avian Biology. If it is not for trying to understand the math, it will be for the revolutionary approach of thinking about seasonal survival in bird populations. Elementary to the idea of Rakhimberdiev and colleagues is the notion that there should not be such a thing as ‘a weakest link’ in the life of a bird population. The Russian biologist, currently working as a post-doc at the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research in The Netherlands and at Cornell University, Ithaca, USA and at, illustrates his case with a notorious bit of recent history from the Dutch Wadden Sea. ‘As a consequence of the cockle-dredging around the islet of Griend, from 1998 until 2003, in the western part of the Dutch Wadden Sea, red knots were not able to find enough food.  Thanks to a very extensive and long-term colour ringing scheme, we were able to show that was 81 out of 100 of the knots survived a year. During the cockle-dredging when knot-food became scarce, their seasonal survival in winter dropped to 78 (out of 100), while their summer survival peaked to 91. To us, this shows that the birds were not able to cope with the shortage of food around Griend in winter and either moved away or died at the start of winter, the remaining fewer birds being in balance with their food resources again.’ In their article, Rakhimberdiev and colleagues state that problems in a certain place or time should ‘even out’ over the years. ‘If there is not enough food at a certain place, a population will eventually adapt and find a new equilibrium – this may include declines to much lower numbers. If there is a very unbalanced survival between seasons, this means the population is facing problems that they do not yet have answers to’, Rakhimberdiev says. This new way of thinking has strong implications for nature protection, the authors think. ‘It means that seasonal survival measurements can give strong indications of the time and place where populations are currently squeezed, where the conservation problems of the day are found (and in need of a solution). It also means that the bottlenecks are transient and thus the basic research of long-breath is necessary to catch these informative times and periods. Only in this way one can try to protect bird populations that may not be in danger yet. It is somewhat sobering to realize that once the population loss has happened, one can no longer observe what the problem was.’ Translated and adapted from an original interview in Dutch by Rob Buiter published in the newsletters of the project Metawad, a project on the research of migrating birds in the Wadden Sea (see www.metawad.nl).

On 3 February 2015, during an event in Lima celebrating World Wetlands Day, the Government of Peru presented the Atlas de las Aves Playeras del Perú: Sitios Importantes para su Conservación (Shorebird Atlas of Peru: Important Sites for Conservation), authored by shorebird experts Nathan Senner and Fernando Angulo Pratolongo. This great achievement was made possible through the collaboration of dozens of partners, including Peru’s Ministry of Environment, CORBIDI, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, BirdLife International, and Asociacion Calidris. The atlas represents the first comprehensive census of shorebirds on the Peruvian coast. Beginning in February 2010, over 150 volunteer observers from various countries registered more than 100,000 shorebirds of 31 species during the ambitious effort. The 293-page publication contains information about species abundance and by sites, the history of shorebird research in the country, methods used, results, and recommendations for prioritizing important sites.   To read more, go to WHSRN news.

In the beginning… During the 1980s, scientists from around the Americas were documenting serious population declines in shorebirds. Recognizing that these birds were in trouble prompted the science community to take action and develop the framework for an international strategy to protect shorebirds and their habitats. The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) is that conservation strategy. WHSRN was formalized in 1985, and in 1986 the Network became a reality with the designation of its first site: Delaware Bay (New Jersey/Delaware, USA). Today… there are 90 sites in 13 countries. Five major languages are spoken among the Network’s hundreds of partners. These partners are conserving more than 32 million acres (13 million hectares) of habitat on public and private lands throughout the Americas for the benefit of shorebirds.   To read more, go to WHSRN News.

Wetlands International is responsible for the collation of regular updates of the global Waterbird Population Estimates. The 5th edition was produced in 2012 and is available as an interactive web-based portal on wpe.wetlands.org. The 6th edition is now in preparation, with updated population estimates and trends. For more information (for both contributors and users), please go to the WPE website.  

We invite you to participate in a study that Wetlands International has initiated aimed at identifying Critical Habitat for waterbirds in the pan Arctic region (the Arctic as per the region defined by the Council of Arctic Flora and Fauna). The overall aim is to prioritise and promote conservation and management of important habitat for waterbirds to ensure the sustenance of species and ecosystems. Read more in: Critical Habitat Project - Information request 3 March 2015

  We are happy to announce that the new (and last) issue of the Wader Study Group Bulletin has been published online now. Launch Wader Study Leaflet Jan 2015  

The website for the 2015 Western Hemisphere shorebird meeting is now available at www.WHSG2015.org Visit the site for meeting information including

• Call for abstracts
• Travel assistance
• Field trips
• Accommodations
• Ancillary meetings
• More

A registration page will be available soon. To contact the local committee, please email whsg2015@gmail.com.

The Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Conservation Project discovered 21 (6+15) Spoon-billed Sandpipers, including two flagged birds, in a previously unknown area (Sandwip, south-east coast) in Bangladesh. The survey team, led by Md. Foysal, also realized that the area supported more than 35,000 shorebirds, and may indeed host additional  Spoonies. More surveys are planned for next winter.

Visit the conference pages with updates on the 2015 Annual Conference. Registration opens up soon.