2010 Annual Meeting Announced

THE THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE WATERBIRD SOCIETY will be held in Grand Island, Nebraska, from 13 Mar – 16 Mar 2011 (Sunday to Wednesday) and will be held jointly with the North American Crane Working Group.  This meeting will constitute the annual meeting for the 2010 calendar year, and will include presentations of research papers, symposia, workshops, social events and area field trips.  The Platte River and nearby wetlands in mid-March provide staging habitat for nearly 10 million waterfowl and half a million Sandhill Cranes—a phenomenon of global significance.  Due to its use by large numbers of migrating shorebirds, the area also is designated a Landscape of International Importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network.  Information about the meeting will be posted at the websites of the Waterbird Society (http://www.waterbirds.org/annual_meeting) and the North American Crane Working Group (http://www.nacwg.org/). Contacts for the meeting are: FELIPE CHAVEZ-RAMIREZ, Local Committee Chair (EM:fchavez@whoopingcrane.org) and KATHARINE PARSONS, Scientific Program Chair (EM: katharinecparsons@gmail.com).

2009 Annual Meeting Overview

The 33rd Annual Meeting of the Waterbird Society was held at The Grand Hotel in Cape May, New Jersey, 4-7 November 2009 and was attended by 256 registered participants (a 46.3% increase over 2008), making it one of our largest meetings ever. Our 2007 meeting in Barcelona had 269 registrants. There were 197 abstracts submitted for the conference (a 34.7% increase over 2008), 43 of which were posters and 154 which were oral presentation. The oral presentations allowed for three full days of three concurrent sessions. Sixty-one (31.0%) of the abstracts were submitted by students, (student awards) which is nearly identical to the 31.3% from last year.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Cape Hatteras National Seashore is currently developing alternatives, including their preferred alternative, for a regulation governing off-road vehicle (ORV) use on the Seashore’s 67 miles of ocean beach. The Seashore has elected to have this ORV regulation determine how natural resources (shorebirds, waterbirds, sea turtles, and others) will be protected on the Seashore. This regulation will set a precedent for a similar regulation being developed for Cape Lookout National Seashore and could impact other National Seashores.

We are reaching out to the diverse community of scientists and wildlife professionals who specialize in research and management of birds, sea turtles, and other natural resources. We are asking you to sign on to a letter requesting that the National Park Service implement the science-based natural resource protection measures that are consistent with the best available scientific research. The implementation of adequate, science-based natural resource protection measures will be critical to the future protection of shorebirds, waterbirds, sea turtles, and other natural resources on the Seashore.

Please visit: http://nc.audubon.org/birds-science-education/995786

On the site, you will find the letter that will be sent to the National Park Service and a response form where you can select “yes” to have your name added to the letter. You will also find documents relevant to the issue (USGS Protocols for Cape Hatteras National Seashore, population trends for nesting birds and sea turtles, conservation and recovery plans, literature review).

Please take a minute to add your name to the list of scientists and wildlife professionals that support science-based protection for shorebirds, waterbirds, and sea turtles on Cape Hatteras National Seashore. If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Walker Golder, Audubon North Carolina

Tel: 910-686-7527

wgolder@audubon.org

Wetlands and Waterbirds: Managing for Resilience

Conference 9-13 November 2009, Leeton, NSW, Australia

The conference details are given at: http://fivebough.org.au

2008 Annual Meeting Overview

The 32nd Annual Meeting of the Waterbird Society was held on South Padre Island (SPI), Texas, 4-7 November 2008 and was attended by 175 registered participants. There were 147 abstracts submitted for the conference, 39 of which were posters and 108 which were oral presentation; 46 (31.3%) of the abstracts were submitted by students. Click here to view the meeting program or a full list of abstracts. The meeting venue was the SPI Convention Centre and the La Quinte motel, a late substitution for the Sheridan Hotel which had been damaged by Hurricane Dolly.

There were two Plenary Presentations: “How Climate Change Might Impact Arctic-breeding Shorebirds: Evidence from Short and Long-term Studies” by Dr. Erica Nol and “Wild Whooping Cranes: Current and Emerging Conservation Issues” By Dr. Felipe Chavez-Ramirez. Student Awards: the Best Student Paper was awarded to Sean Murphy (U.S.) for “Investigating the Demographics of a Shorebird Near the Northern Limit of its Range”. There were three Noteworthy Student Papers: Paul Smith (Canada) for “Predator Abundance and Incubation Behavior Explain Interannual and Interspecific Patterns of Nest Success for Arctic Breeding Shorebirds”, Melissa Pink (Canada) for “The Role of Changing Aquatic Ecosystems on Avian Predators: Do Forster’s Terns Respond to the Aquatic Environment As Well As to Changes in Prey Abundance?” and Elizabeth Bates (U.S.) for “Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Reddish Egrets in Texas”. The Best Student Poster was awarded to Rafael Ordonez (U.S.) for “Simple and Inexpensive Devices to Measure Heart Rate of Incubating Birds”. The Noteworthy Student Poster was awarded to Jeff R. Troy (U.S.) for “Reduction in the Breeding Range of Newell’s Shearwaters, Puffinus newelli, on Kauai, Hawaii: Evidence and Insights from Field Surveys and GIS Modelling”.

There were daily field trips in the area as well as a Saturday evening banquet and Silent Auction featuring a variety of unique ornithological items. Next year’s meeting is scheduled for Cape May, New Jersey, on 4-7 November 2009. Click here for more information.