Arctic Shorebirds in North America:a decade of monitoring

Waders as a group include some of the best-travelled species in the world. Many of us are familiar with the huge flocks of the birds that choose to over winter in temperate and tropical climes. Here they are well studied and we know much about their numbers, distribution and what ‘makes them tick’ during the non-breeding season. In comparison, for those species that breed in the Arctic, we know so little, even of the basic facts of distributions and numbers.

This volume represents a major milestone for the monitoring of wader populations in the Western Hemisphere. In many ways it signs-off the development and establishment of firm foundations upon which future monitoring of Arctic-breeding waders in the Western Hemisphere can be based.  At its inception, the PRISM programme set high goals. Could those goals be realised? The papers show that where there’s a will there’s a way and furthermore that we really can get to grips with these enigmatic birds on their breeding grounds.

This volume scores on a number of fronts. Firstly, the results have great value in their own right – detailed results from ground-breaking survey work, already plugging huge gaps in our understanding of these birds. Secondly, it will serve as a point of reference for those developing new monitoring initiatives in North American Arctic and elsewhere. Thirdly, it proves beyond doubt that wader population researchers are able to deliver the goods given the political will to support policy based on sound science.

Book reviewed by Graham Austin