Anniversary World Watch results

Although we do still hope to get some very late additions, we have now published the Wader Quest Anniversary World Watch details on its own permanent page here.

In the end we got 113 species; which is around 50% of the world's wader species.

We had submissions from 19 countries.

We had 48 lists submitted.

Highlights include:

• having Spoon-billed Sandpiper from two countries, Thailand and Vietnam.
• having Magellanic Plover, the subject of our current project from the southern tip of Patagonia.
• having at least one list from each of the nine flyways.
• having Giant Snipe sent in from REGUA in Brazil.

The country with the highest list (and highest individual list) was from Peter Ericsson in Thailand with 33 species, and he still had some species that he could potentially have connected with if he had not been working that day. Additional species such as Greater Painted-Snipe, Malaysian Plover, White-faced Plover are all generally available as well as the potential for pratincoles and jacanas from that country all of which just goes to show what a great wader destination Thailand is.

Red-necked Avocets and White-headed Stilts: Photo by Steve Merrett.

A number of birds occurred in multiple countries; the most observed was Grey Plover (Black-bellied Plover) seen in 8 countries with Common Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone and Sanderling all occurring 6 times and with 5 we had Kentish Plover, Eurasian Whimbrel, Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper and Dunlin. 

Eurasian Whimbrel: Photo by Renate Hottmann-Schaefer

There was an incredible 57 species observed in one country only which indicates the importance of a swathe of observers across the continents. Some observers may not amass huge lists but the one or two they do see can be significant; like the couple in Louisiana who sent in just one species, American Woodcock seen in their own back yard, which was the only record we had of that species. 

This really does draw a parallel with wader conservation in general, many small local efforts really do add up to a significant contribution to helping the world's waders. Never suppose that your efforts are not worth while, every single bird, or patch of habitat that is saved or managed is a piece in the larger jigsaw which when every piece has been put together becomes a complete picture with rigidity and strength. This is exactly what Wader Quest aims to achieve, to bring small projects to the fore and create a strong army of them working in unison towards the same goal; wader conservation.

African Jacana: Photo by Sue Oertli.