Sharing the Beach with Shorebirds
Story by Melissa Chaplin,
Endangered Species Biologist,
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
O
ne of the most spectacular migration events in
North America can be witnessed every year on
South Carolina beaches, particularly Kiawah
Island. Shorebirds migrate from their breeding
grounds every fall (July–October) to their wintering grounds
and do a reverse migration from their wintering grounds to
their breeding grounds every spring (March–May). Where
they are coming from and where they are going depends
on the species. If you time it right, you can see hundreds to
thousands of the 15 beach dependent shorebird species that
stopover on Kiawah Island before continuing on to their
next destination.
Kiawah Island typically has the largest flocks of red knots
and piping plovers in the state during spring migration.
If you miss the peak of migration, don’t worry. You can
see shorebirds on Kiawah Island year-round. American
oystercatchers, Wilson’s plovers, and willets nest on beaches
April through July. Black-bellied plovers, piping plovers,
semipalmated plovers, Wilson’s plovers, dunlin, red knots,
sanderlings, ruddy turnstones, short-billed dowitchers,
marbled godwits, American oystercatchers, willets, least
sandpipers, semipalmated sandpipers, and Western
sandpipers represent the migrant and winter shorebird
species most commonly seen on Kiawah Island beaches.
Photos by Shauneen Hutchinson
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