On the Farthest Shores

Each May, millions of shorebirds and waterfowl migrate from every continent and every ocean to breed on the immense wetlands of Arctic Alaska’s coastal plain.

These winged visitors include buff-breasted sandpipers from South America, bar-tailed godwits from New Zealand, Arctic terns from Antarctica, and dunlin from Asia.

But expanding oil concessions and climate change are transforming the Arctic, and with it, this timeworn nesting ground is changing, too.

WCS-North America conservationists follow the birds each spring to these farthest of shores, to study the impacts on their habitat and help ensure their future.