We are very proud to bring you the next in our collaborative series, Compelling Voices in Birding and Conservation! Dr. Abby Sterling, a shorebird biologist at Manomet working on the Georgia Bight Shorebird Conservation Initiative, will highlight some of these incredible shorebird stories, and explain how protecting shorebird habitat at strategically important locations can have positive impacts across the Western Hemisphere.

Few sights are as compelling as a flock of thousands of shorebirds taking flight, swirling through the sky, settling back to the sand, and scurrying about looking for food. These birds spend their entire lives dependent on a precarious landscape- the narrow margin that exists between dry land and water, our shores. And because of their specific requirements in this ever-changing wet/dry environment, shorebirds are often subject to tremendous amounts of risk and pressure.

Shorelines, an already thin geographic ribbon, are facing threats due to development, sea level rise, and increasing numbers of people; as a result we are seeing widespread and alarming declines in some populations of our fifty-two shorebird species. But the shorebird story isn’t necessarily only one of fragility. They are also individually resilient and tough. The migrations that shorebirds make annually, from one pole to the other, defy the imagination and inspire us with the magnitude of their physical feats. Whether they are raising chicks on the Arctic tundra, protecting eggs on a beach outside of one of America’s most populated cities, Chicago, or flying thousands of miles without stopping, there is no question that shorebird are a marvel of the natural world.

This event is free and will be held at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, pending local guidelines.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Chicago Ornithological Society, and the Chicago Audubon Society are proud to present the Compelling Voices in Birding and Conservation series.