Sanderling Plan - Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network

Educational messages
Educational content should inform viewers about the Sanderling, and cover the ecological
basics, such as:
o Sanderlings require specific habitats to complete their life cycle (e.g., beaches,
shallow lakes);
o There are three critical phases in a Sanderling’s lifecycle when specific habitat needs
must be met: breeding, staging (migratory), and nonbreeding (wintering);
o Many Sanderling habitats currently face threats from habitat loss and degradation,
such as from agricultural and urban development, and human disturbance.
Educational messages should convey the need for adequate food and resting resources
during migration and winter, such as the need for adequate and ecologically healthy populations
of Horseshoe Crabs in the mid-Atlantic region (the crab eggs are a key food source during spring
migration). Due to their reliance on sandy beach habitat and sensitivity to various stressors,
Sanderlings are good indicators (i.e., umbrella species) for monitoring the health of coastal
ecosystems, and the affects of global climate change.
Educational messages should also seek to inspire viewers about Sanderlings (e.g., via
their spectacular migrations), build public interest and compassion, and embody positive human
values. Some examples are provided in the Regional Shorebird Plans (e.g., Drut and Buchanan
2000, Hickey et al. 2003, and others; see U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan website). Other
useful language and perspectives on caring for wildlife (i.e., managing wildlife as a legacy) are
outlined in the State Wildlife Action Plan overview (on the Internet). Appropriate metaphors can
be powerful tools for drawing-in additional public interest or for shifting public attitude towards
wildlife; for example, Sanderlings are elite athletes and experienced globe-trotters, members of
the ‘global economy’ long before we joined. The parallel between Horseshoe Crabs and sea
turtles is also compelling (since both come ashore in spring tides to breed), as is the notion that
Horseshoe Crabs are ‘living fossils’ (their ancestors dating back before the dinosaurs; Clark and
Niles 2000). Finally, because Sanderlings use—and rely upon—habitats that span the entire
Western Hemisphere, they link people and countries together. Their persistence requires that we
invest in our own future and work together—to reduce pollution and harmful contaminants, to
reduce and contain our human impacts, to address climate change, to ensure that wild areas
WHSRN – Sanderling Conservation Plan, February 2010, v1.1 53