Prairie Canada shorebird conservation plan

Shorebird species in Prairie Canada
Priority needs for Prairie shorebird conservation
Prairie Canada shorebird conservation plan drafting committee
Partnerships

The three prairie provinces of Canada provide crucially important breeding and staging habitat for a large number of shorebird species. Of the 40 species of shorebirds that breed regularly in Canada, 25 breed in Prairie Canada (the prairie, boreal and Coastal Hudson Bay regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba), including eight species whose breeding range in Canada is primarily or entirely in the prairies. The region also provides important staging sites for 31 species of both spring and fall migrating shorebirds.

Recent analyses of population monitoring schemes over several decades across North America, including Canada, have shown a negative trend in nearly 80 per cent of shorebird species.

The North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) provides a national overview of the status of shorebirds in Canada and outlines procedures for cooperative national and international shorebird conservation. The Prairie Canada Shorebird Conservation Plan describes the current state of knowledge about shorebird species' biology, distribution, habitat needs and threats to their populations and conservation in Prairie Canada. It notes gaps in knowledge, and makes recommendations for priorities in shorebird monitoring, research and management activities in the three prairie provinces. Breeding birds are separated from migrants as priorities, timing of habitat use, and habitat requirements often differ between the two groups. Under those sections, the three main ecological areas of the region are discussed separately: prairie, boreal, and Hudson Bay coastline.

Overall Plan Goals: To sustain and enhance the distribution, diversity, and abundance of breeding and migrating populations of shorebirds throughout the Prairie Provinces. This will be done by:

acquiring sufficient information on population dynamics, population trends, breeding, migration and staging strategies, and habitat preferences of Prairie Canada shorebirds to make knowledgeable management recommendations;
sustaining and enhancing sufficient high-quality habitat to support healthy populations in Prairie Canada;
informing the public, decision-makers, and all those involved in land management in Prairie Canada about the importance of Prairie Canada to shorebirds, and about the biology, trends and management of shorebird species; and
ensuring that coordinated conservation efforts (regionally, nationally, and internationally) are in place to address the key conservation priorities for shorebirds in Prairie Canada.

Shorebird species in Prairie Canada

Prairie/Parkland breeding birds
Boreal breeding birds
Hudson bay breeders
Generalist breeding birds
Passage migrants
Status, seasonal timing of occurrence, known Canadian population trends and conservation priority of shorebirds commonly occurring or known to have bred in the prairie region of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta

1. Prairie/Parkland breeding birds

Piping Plover, (Charadrius melodus)
Mountain Plover, (Charadrius montanus)
Black-necked Stilt, (Himantopus mexicanus)
American Avocet, (Recurvirostra americana)
Willet, (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)
Upland Sandpiper, (Bartramia longicauda)
Long-billed Curlew, (Numenius americanus)
Marbled Godwit, (Limosa fedoa)
Wilson's Phalarope, (Phalaropus tricolor)
American Woodcock, (Scolapax minor)

2. Boreal breeding birds (also Migrants through the Prairies/Parkland)

Greater Yellowlegs, (Tringa melanoleuca)
Lesser Yellowlegs, (Tringa flavipes)
Solitary Sandpiper, (Tringa solitaria)
Short-billed Dowitcher, (Limnodromus griseus)

3. Hudson bay breeders

American Golden-Plover, (Pluvialis dominica)
Semipalmated Plover, (Charadrius semipalmatus)
Whimbrel, (Numenius phaeopus)
Hudsonian Godwit, (Limosa haemastica)
Semipalmated Sandpiper, (Calidris pusilla)
Dunlin, (Calidris alpina)
Least Sandpiper, (Calidris minutilla)
Stilt Sandpiper, (Calidris himantopus)
Red-necked Phalarope, (Phalaropus lobatus)

4. Generalist breeding birds

Killdeer, (Charadrius vociferus)
Spotted Sandpiper, (Actitis macularia)
Common Snipe, (Gallinago gallinago)

5. Passage migrants

Black-bellied Plover, (Pluvialis squatarola)
Snowy Plover, (Charadrius alexandrinus)
Ruddy Turnstone, (Arenaria interpres)
Red Knot, (Calidris canutus)
Sanderling, (Calidris alba)
Western Sandpiper, (Calidris mauri)
White-rumped Sandpiper, (Calidris fuscicollis)
Baird's Sandpiper, (Calidris bairdii)
Pectoral Sandpiper, (Calidris melanotos)
Buff-breasted Sandpiper, (Tryngites subruficollis)
Long-billed Dowitcher, (Limnodromus scolopaceus)

6. Status, seasonal timing of occurrence, known Canadian population trends and conservation priority of shorebirds commonly occurring or known to have bred in the prairie region of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta

Table 1. The table of the status and seasonal timing of occurrence, and known Canadian population trends and conservation priority of shorebirds commonly occurring or known to have bred in the prairie region of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. ^{table 1 note1}
Species Name^{table 1 note2}	Status and Occurrence in the Prairies^{table 1 note3}	Population Trend in Canada^{table 1 note4}	Prairie Responsibility (Canada)^{table 1 note5}	Prairie Responsibility (Hemispheric)^{table 1 note6}
American Avocet	B	D	H	M
Black-necked Stilt	b	I	(H)	VL
Black-bellied Plover	S,f	D	m	M
American Golden-Plover	S,f	s?/d	m	M
Semipalmated Plover	S,F	s?/d	l	L
Piping Plover	B	d	H	H
Mountain Plover	(b)	d?	(H)	VL
Snowy Plover	(b)	?	(H)	VL
Killdeer	B	D	M	L
Greater Yellowlegs	F	s?/d	m	M
Lesser Yellowlegs	S,F	D	m	M
Solitary Sandpiper	s,f	s?/d	l	L
Willet	B	D	H	M
Spotted Sandpiper	B	D	L	L
Upland Sandpiper	B	I?	H	L
Eskimo Curlew	(s)	s?	l	L
Long-billed Curlew	B	D	H	M
Whimbrel	S	d/s?	I	L
Hudsonian Godwit	F	?	h	H
Marbled Godwit	B	D	H	H
Ruddy Turnstone	S	s?	l	L
Red Knot	S	d/s?	l	L
Sanderling	S	D	h	H
Semipalmated Sandpiper	S,F	D	m	M
Western Sandpiper	(f)	?	(l)	Vl
Least Sandpiper	S,F	D	l	L
Baird's Sandpiper	S,F	s?	h	M
White-rumped Sandpiper	S	s?/D	h	M
Pectoral Sandpiper	S,F	s?/d	h	M
Dunlin	S	s?	l	L
Stilt Sandpiper	S,F	?	h	H
Buff-breasted Sandpiper	S,F	D	h	M
Long-billed Dowitcher	S,F	?	m	M
Short-billed Dowitcher	S,F	D	m	M
Common Snipe	B	D	L	L
American Woodcock	B	D	L	VL
Wilson's Phalarope	B	D	H	M
Red-necked Phalarope	S,F	D	h	H

table 1 notes

Footnote 1

Priority shorebird species in the prairie provinces
Priority species are identified, by the Canadian Wildlife Service Technical Committee, as the prairie region's responsibility because a large, or entire, portion of their Canadian, hemispheric or global population occurs in the region at some point in their annual cycle.

American Avocet
Piping Plover
Willet
Upland Sandpiper
Long-billed Curlew
Hudsonian Godwit
Marbled Godwit
Red Knot
Sanderling
Baird's Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Wilson's Phalarope
Red-necked Phalarope

Return to footnote1 referrer

Footnote 2

Species Name: current species name from AOU 1998

Return to footnote2 referrer

Footnote 3

Status and occurrence in the prairies: summarized from literature and expertise of drafting team: UPPERCASE = regionally important, lower case = regular occurrence; in parentheses = uncommon to rare; B = breeding, S = spring migration, F = fall migration

Return to footnote3 referrer

Footnote 4

Population trend in Canada: Canadian population trend from Hyslop et al. 2000: D = declines p<0.5, d = declines not significant, s = stable, I = increase p<0.5, ? =uncertain

Return to footnote4 referrer

Footnote 5

Prairie Responsibility (Canada): responsibility of the prairies to the total Canadian population, ranked High, Medium, or Low (Prairie Canada Shorebird Conservation Plan Committee). Uppercase letters refer to breeders, lowercase to passage migrants. Letters in parentheses denote extremely low numbers in the prairies of Canada.

Return to footnote5 referrer

Footnote 6

Prairie Responsibility (Hemispheric): responsibility of the prairies to the total hemispheric population, ranked High, Medium, or Low (Prairie Canada Shorebird Conservation Plan Committee). Uppercase letters refer to breeders, lowercase to passage migrants.

Return to footnote6 referrer

Priority needs for Prairie shorebird conservation

A selection of priorities have been identified but extensive consultation with, and the involvement of, other partners during implementation of the Plan will further define and prioritize research, monitoring and habitat management activities. This selection includes: monitoring and research needs, and habitat management needs.

Monitoring and research needs:

assess the accuracy of select population monitoring schemes and develop appropriate methods.
identify factors affecting shorebird species survival and productivity.
conduct broad-scale monitoring (i.e. International Shorebird Survey), the International Piping Plover Census and special single species surveys, and
determine the effects of anthropogenic (human-caused) changes on shorebird populations and the effects of botulism on shorebirds.

Habitat management needs:

identify and protect critical habitat, and map key shorebird staging/breeding sites and habitat areas.
develop maps to integrate staging/breeding sites with other groups, and overlap these sites with other priority sites of landbirds, colonial waterbirds and waterfowl.
manage and create wetlands, and
develop and apply agriculture and forest management practices compatible with shorebird habitat needs.

Prairie Canada shorebird conservation plan drafting committee

Dr. Cheri Gratto-Trevor, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada
Gerry Beyersbergen, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada
Loney Dickson, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada
Pauline Erickson, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada
Bob MacFarlane, Ducks Unlimited Canada
Dr. Martin Raillard, Chair, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada
Tom Sadler, Ducks Unlimited Canada

Partnerships

The Prairie Canada Shorebird Conservation Plan was developed and endorsed by the Prairie Habitat Joint Venture, a group of government and non-government agencies working together to promote migratory bird conservation in Prairie Canada. Plan implementation will require partnerships among federal and provincial governments, non-government organizations, industry and landowners. Partnerships will be created around matching partners' strengths in research, monitoring, habitat protection, wetland and upland management, marketing, environmental education and communications. Strong and effective partnerships will ensure that the Prairie Canada Shorebird Conservation Plan moves forward as an integral part of an integrated, ecologically-based, biologically-driven landscape.

Page details

2017-09-10

Language selection

Search