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A conservation success story: American oystercatchers, resilient shorebirds, nesting on New York beaches | Newsday
It was the tail end of the breeding season for American oystercatchers, a quirky-looking shorebird that breeds onNew York beaches from Rockaway Point to the East End. Field biologist Emilio Tobón raised his binoculars andslowly scanned the zone above the high-tide line in Breezy Point. An American Oystercatcher adult, with the orange beak, and juvenile in their nesting area at the beach in Breezy Point in Queens on Monday. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin By Tracy Tullis [email protected] Updated July 18, 2025 9:07 am SHARE / It was the tail end of the breeding season for American oystercatchers, a quirky-looking shorebird that breeds onNew York beaches from Rockaway Point to the East End. Field biologist Emilio Tobón raised his...
‘Star’ Red Knot Reveals Species’ Pluck and Peril | Georgia DNR, Wildlife Resources Division
*H7 is a Rocky among red knots. After being fitted with a small transmitter on Little Tybee Island in spring 2024, this robin-sized sandpiper migrated more than 3,000 miles to breed in the Arctic, then launched into a 5,000-mile flight south that July, navigated through a category 1 hurricane and three South American countries where shorebirds are hunted, and returned to Little Tybee this April. When it comes to beating the odds, Balboa has nuthin’ on this knot. Yet like “Rocky,” the tale of *H7 – the bird’s identifying leg-band code – can inspire and inform. Crediting the research project that identified *H7’s migration pathways, stopover sites and the gauntlet of threats survived, DNR senior wildlife biologist Fletcher Smith said...
Shorebirds in Florida are losing habitat. Living shorelines are part of the solution | Central Florida Public Media
Shorebirds in Florida are losing habitat. Living shorelines are part of the solution American oystercatchers at-large are making gains. But in Florida, the state-threatened shorebird is struggling to hold onto habitat. Even as populations dwindle for hundreds of bird species across the United States, there are some success stories taking flight: like for the American oystercatcher, one of Florida’s most iconic — and threatened — shorebirds. Molly Duerig / Central Florida Public Media A conservation team unloads biodegradable wave breaks from a boat on May 27, 2025. The cement jute wave breaks designed for erosion protection are part of a living shoreline project in the Mosquito Lagoon. Editor’s note: Before this story was published, Shiloh Schulte, a senior shorebird scientist...
Inside the All-Out, 16-State Mission to Save the American Oystercatcher | Audubon Magazine
A massive network of conservation groups bet big on a business plan to reverse the striking shorebird’s decline—and won. With a long, powerful bill capable of slicing open shells that most other birds can’t crack, the American Oystercatcher seems well equipped to find plenty to eat in its coast-hugging habitats. In the early 2000s, though, scientists noticed oystercatchers’ namesake food source was disappearing—and the shorebirds were following suit. Oyster reefs where the birds forage were receding, while development and rising seas threatened important coastal nesting habitats. By 2008 surveys found the species’ main populations along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts had dropped by 8 percent in five years, with only around 10,000 individuals remaining. Unless something major changed, experts feared,...
Pollinator Week
Populations Each fall, North American monarchs travel from their summer breeding grounds to overwintering locations. ⛰️🦋East of the Rocky Mountains, monarchs travel up to an astonishing 3,000 miles to central Mexico, whereas the shorter migration 🦋⛰️west of the Rockies is to the California coast. There is evidence of some interchange between the eastern and western populations, perhaps when individuals cross the Rocky Mountains, when butterflies fly from the western U.S. to the Mexican wintering sites, or when butterflies from the Mexican sites fly into the western U.S. In addition to the eastern and western populations, a small non-migratory population has long inhabited southern Florida🦋🌴. While some eastern migratory monarchs pass through Florida during their migration, the resident population receives an...
How farmers can help rescue water-loving birds | Knowable Magazine
How farmers can help rescue water-loving birds Cranes, sandpipers, ducks, geese and many other waterbirds have lost essential rest stops along their seasonal migration routes. Bird-friendly agriculture can assist in filling the gaps. By Lela Nargi 05.20.2025 James Gentz has seen birds aplenty on his East Texas rice-and-crawfish farm: snow geese and pintails, spoonbills and teal. The whooping crane couple, though, he found “magnificent.” These endangered, long-necked behemoths arrived in 2021 and set to building a nest amid his flooded fields. “I just loved to see them,” Gentz says. Food & Environment Food & Environment To help birds and insects, cultivate native gardens Not every farmer is thrilled to host birds. Some worry about the spread of avian flu, others are concerned that...
Green Crabs and their Negative Impact on Coastal Habitats | 7 News Boston
DUXBURY, MASS. (WHDH) - Skip Bennett makes a living farming clams and oysters in Duxbury Bay. “We found little windows like in July, where the oysters are growing so fast,” said Bennett, Island Creek Founder. Growing fast is key because lurking at the bottom of the bay is an army of small green crabs hunting for shellfish. European Green Crabs are considered one of the “world’s most invasive species.” “They are very destructive for being so small,” said Bennett. And these small creatures are a big problem for Bennett because they feed off of soft shell clams and oysters. “They’re like potato chips and they’re just popping those things open no problem,” said Bennett. Researchers at Manomet Conservation Sciences have...
Population estimates of shorebirds on the Atlantic Coast of southern South America generated from large-scale, simultaneous, volunteer-led surveys
Faria, F., J. Aldabe, J. Bosi de Almeida, J. J. Bonanno, L. Bugoni, R. P. Clay, J. Garcia-Walther, A. Gonzalex, A. J. Lesterhuis, G. Tavares Nunes, and N. R, Senner. 2025. Population estimates of shorebirds on the Atlantic Coast of southern South America generated from large-scale, simultaneous, volunteer-led surveys. Journal of Field Ornithology. https://doi.org/10.5751/JFO-00584-960102 Skip to content Current Issue About the Journal Submit an Article Sign In Population estimates of shorebirds on the Atlantic Coast of southern South America generated from large-scale, simultaneous, volunteer-led surveys >Details Citation Outline Keywords Article Metrics Copyright and Permissions Avian Conservation and Management ABSTRACT Population abundance and trend estimates are crucial to science, management, and conservation. Shorebirds, which are abundant in many coastal...
Observations, perceptions and concerns of the American lobster industry regarding the range-expansion of Black Sea Bass
Observations, perceptions and concerns of the American lobster industry regarding the range-expansion of Black Sea Bass Helen Cheng a,*, Marissa D. McMahan b, Steven B. Scyphers c, Loren McClenachan d, Jonathan H. Grabowski a a Northeastern University Marine Science Center, 430 Nahant Road, Nahant, MA 01908, USA b Manomet Inc., Fisheries Division, 14 Maine Street, Suite 410, Brunswick, ME 04011, USA c University of South Alabama Dauphin Island Sea Lab, 101 Bienville Blvd., Mobile, AL 36528, USA d University of Victoria, Department of History and School of Environmental Studies, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada A R T I C L E I N F O Keywords: American lobster Black Sea Bass Range-expansion Fisher ecological knowledge Perceptions Decision tree analyses A B...
Shorebirds of the Atlantic Flyway | Bluedor Living
Setting the stage for conservation on a hemispheric scale. If you visit a beach at low tide in the spring or fall, there’s a good chance you’ll encounter a unique group of transients, wheeling about and landing in sync, probing with bills of fantastical shapes in the invertebrate-packed mud, or resting, beak under feather, in moments of calm. These visitors, a few of whom stay to breed at our mid-latitudes in the summer, are the shorebirds, a diverse group that includes sandpipers, plovers, and oystercatchers. The writer Peter Matthiessen called them “the wind birds” for their legendary migrations. Every shorebird you see is vitally connected to a flyway, an aerial artery that surges twice a year as thousands of birds...