Based on the feedback I have got in the last few weeks, we are all full of motivation and enthusiasm about the Global Shorebird Counts and our contribution to eBird and a better understanding of the phenology and migration of shorebirds.
I plan to have an extensive campaign, before the 2020 counts, with the help of the eBird Team and other larger organisations. It seems that many of the eBirders and birders, in general, have never heard about World Shorebirds Day and our shorebird counting program. Utilizing the power of social media, personal connections and other media platforms, we try to engage with new potential counters, primarily eBird users.
We have great examples from the past how birding or conservation community leaders can influence locals. One outstanding organisation to mention is Birds Caribbean. Lisa Sorenson, Executive Director of the organisation has supported World Shorebirds Day since the very beginning and motivated local bird counters across the Caribbean to join the counts. As a result, we received shorebird counts from the tiniest islands like Montserrat, Anguilla or Grenada. Another great support was from eBird Spain. Spain had been very underrepresented in the Global Shorebird Counts until 2019 but thanks to the motivation of the admins of eBird Espagna Facebook group, we have got an incredible number of checklists this year. To mention a few more of the many great examples, Vojtech Kubelka, an amazing shorebird researcher, organised counts in consecutive years in the Czech Republic, the participation level promoted by eBird Taiwan is just great or the continued support of Manomet's Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network through their communications, all helped to make the Global Shorebird Counts known even more.
Still, a lot has to be done. The idea and mission of the Global Shorebird Counts are to promote not only shorebird counting but bird monitoring in general. Hearing about participants joining the very important International Shorebird Survey just because they realised and learned about the importance of monitoring through the Global Shorebird Counts, make me proud and happy. That was exactly the purpose of launching this program.
So what's next?
We need to get engaged with new eBirders or citizen scientists who have not used eBird yet. You can help in achieving this. All we need to do is to promote the program within your network. The best way is to get them involved for the 2020 counts to ask them signing up for the counts using the form below. This enables easier communication during the campaign of the 2020 counts.
So let's do it, let's make this program bigger. Thank you for all your help, support and donations.
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