Sixteen shorebird species have been reclassified to higher threat categories as the global population of migratory shorebirds across the world saw a substantial decline, according to the latest update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.<\/p>\n
Conservation partnership BirdLife International, which helps examine the status of the world\u2019s birds for the IUCN Red List, reassessed around half of the 254 species of shorebirds the organization currently monitors, for 2024, according to Ian Burfield, BirdLife International\u2019s global science coordinator.<\/p>\n
The reassessment was prompted by a study published last year that showed steep declines in many shorebird species in North America, Burfield told Mongabay via email.<\/p>\n
\u201c[B]ut as it only covered part of their global populations, we had to source equivalent data from elsewhere \u2026 to produce a global picture, before applying the IUCN Red List criteria to reassess their status,\u201d Burfield said. \u201cMost species did not need recategorizing, but of those that did, virtually all have deteriorated.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the latest reassessment, seven of the 16 shorebird species were categorized as \u201cnear threatened\u201d and nine are now \u201cvulnerable\u201d to extinction as they experienced global population declines of 20-40% over three generations.<\/p>\n
BirdLife International said in a statement that migratory birds are especially at risk as they follow specific migration flyways or routes and stop along the way to rest and feed at certain sites that now face threats like habitat loss and climate change impacts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile many of these shorebirds remain numerous and are still commonly encountered along their flyways, new analyses of data from long-term monitoring schemes reveal that the global populations of some species have declined by more than a third in recent decades,\u201d Burfield said in the statement.<\/p>\n
Among those that have now been moved into a higher \u201cthreatened\u201d category of vulnerable are the gray plover (Pluvialis squatarola) and the curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea), both of which breed in various parts of the Arctic and migrate globally during their nonbreeding seasons. They both face threats from habitat loss and degradation, hunting, and climate change impacts.<\/p>\n
The Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica), a large shorebird that breeds in northern Canada and Alaska and migrates to South America during its nonbreeding months, is also now considered vulnerable. The IUCN notes in its assessment of the species that the bird\u2019s population is seeing a \u201csignificant decline \u2026 most severely noted in numbers recorded at migratory sites in North America.\u201d<\/p>\n
BirdLife International said in its statement that protecting shorebirds is also important for the coastal communities that depend on the same habitats as the birds.<\/p>\n
\u2018The perilous declines of migratory birds are a sign that the integrity of flyways is deteriorating,\u201d Burfield said. \u201cLosing the network of habitats that migratory birds depend on to rest and feed during their long journeys could have severe consequences for the millions of people that rely on these sites, as well as the birds.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n