Shiawassee Refuge provides particularly important stopover habitat for dunlin during migration. - FWS photo by Kim LeBlanc

Large numbers of lesser yellowlegs utilize refuge wetlands. - FWS photo by Steve Gasser

The least sandpiper is one of the refuge's most common shorebirds. - FWS photo by Kim LeBlanc

November 14th, 2007 marked the final weekly International Shorebird Survey (ISS) for this year at Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.  This makes twenty uninterrupted years that the refuge has cooperated in this information gathering initiative, by conducting a census of the refuge’s shorebird populations a minimum of every ten days from mid-March through mid- November.  

On the large scale, the results contribute to the ISS goal of monitoring the patterns and populations of sandpipers and plovers in the western hemisphere.  ISS data is pivotal to shorebird conservation in the United States, with the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan drawing heavily on ISS information.  

On the local level, the knowledge acquired is critical to integrating the needs of shorebirds into refuge water management activities.  The comparability of the shorebird population data from Shiawassee NWR is high as well, with all twenty years of data being collected by the same individual.

The shorebirds are a particularly imperiled group of North American birds with the vast majority of species showing long term declines.  Shiawassee Refuge is one of the most important migration stopover sites in Michigan for these birds. 

Thirty-five species of shorebirds have been found at the refuge including such rarities as American avocet, black-necked stilt, willet, whimbrel, marbled godwit, curlew sandpiper, and ruff.  Further, peak daily high counts include 756 killdeer, 1016 lesser yellowlegs, 763 least sandpiper, 825 pectoral sandpiper, and 2,152 dunlin.  In fact, the highest number of eleven shorebird species in the wetland rich Saginaw Bay area has been recorded at Shiawassee Refuge.