Reminder: Shorebirds are not only on coastal areas!

It is still a common misunderstanding that shorebirds are restricted to coastal areas. Shorebirds are almost everywhere! They are indeed most abundant in estuaries with tidal zone but they (some of them exclusively far from castal habitats) also can be found inland as well. We can find them along rivers, on meadows, fishponds, salt pans, mountains, sewage treatments and even on agricultural fields. You will certainly find a solitary Killdeer near your inland wetland, or a migrating Little Ringed Plover at one of the drained fishponds, but you can also find feeding Northern Lapwings with Eropean Golden Plovers on a plough field.

Not only one former participants sent an e-mail apologising that they would not able to count shorebirds as they will be travelling inland, far from coastlines. I still encourage everyone to register at least one inland location and count shorebirds there regardless of their numbers. Global Shorebird Counting is not a competion!

Curlew Sandpiper by Daniel Pettersson (Photo was legally embedded from his Flickr page)

The map reflects the preference of coastal areas although a good and increasing number of inland areas have been registered.