Coastal refueling sites for global bird migrants.

Abstract

Coastal migration bottlenecks of shorebirds (sandpipers, plovers, and allies) are described based on data collected by the International Shorebird Survey at 328 marine and 286 non marine sites in the US east of 105 W longitude. Thirteen of the 35 most common species that breed in North America appear highly dependant on a small number of strategic coastal migration staging areas in the US. Relationships between these results and development of an international conservation project, the Western Shorebird Reserve Network, are described.