Long-time SAS member Kim Thorburn will address the little understood use by shorebirds of shrub steppe in eastern Washington’s Columbia Basin, and the urgent need for increased research and recognition of this landscape to shorebird survival. (Also available via Zoom link at spokaneaudubon.org.)
Thorburn will cover how shorebird populations throughout the world are in steep decline. With breeding grounds in the far north and some of the longest migratory movements of all birds, shorebirds face many threats and are challenging to study. A well identified threat is habitat destruction by shoreline development, and much conservation effort is directed toward protecting and preserving those habitats. The birds’ use of shrub steppe for both migration and breeding is less systematically understood.
Thorburn has long been a SAS leader in shrub steppe conservation, but she has been smitten with shorebirds since early childhood, chasing Sanderlings out with the surf and back in with the waves at the southern California beach near her grandparents’ home.