Beach Birds (SECAS Goal Trends)

<p style='margin:12pt 0in 4pt;'><strong>Yearly trend</strong></p><p style='margin:0in;'>When averaged across all points with trends, beach bird abundance decreased by 1.42% per year from 2012-2022. <span style='background-attachment:initial; background-clip:initial; background-image:initial; background-origin:initial; background-position:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-size:initial;'>Species used were American oystercatcher, black skimmer, gull-billed tern, least tern, piping plover, roseate tern, snowy plover, and willet. These s</span>pecies are Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need for states in the Southeast, primarily occur in this ecosystem, and have sufficient data for trend analysis in eBird Status and Trends. Most points across the SECAS region were declining, with the exception of some areas with significant investment in coastal conservation. Individual species trends also followed this pattern. The only exception was breeding piping plover, where all breeding points in the SECAS region were declining.</p><p style='margin:12pt 0in 4pt;'><strong>On track to meet SECAS goal</strong></p><p style='margin:0in;'>No. The decline of about 5.68% every 4 years is not enough to reach the SECAS goal of a 1% increase every 4 years.</p><p style='margin:12pt 0in 4pt;'><strong>Data source</strong></p><p style='margin:0in;'><a href='https://science.ebird.org/en/status-and-trends' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'><span style='background-attachment:initial; background-clip:initial; background-image:initial; background-origin:initial; background-position:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-size:initial;'>eBird Status and Trends</span></a><span style='background-attachment:initial; background-clip:initial; background-image:initial; background-origin:initial; background-position:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-size:initial;'></span></p><p style='margin:12pt 0in 4pt;'><strong>Confidence in trend</strong></p><p style='margin:0in;'><span style='background-attachment:initial; background-clip:initial; background-image:initial; background-origin:initial; background-position:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-size:initial;'>Medium. Most points that had declines (52%) were statistically significant.</span></p><p style='margin:12pt 0in 4pt;'><strong>Interpretation</strong></p><p style='margin:0in;'><span style='background-attachment:initial; background-clip:initial; background-image:initial; background-origin:initial; background-position:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-size:initial;'>This is an indicator of beach habitat quality. The mixed but mostly declining trends highlight the challenges and opportunities within this ecosystem. Habitat modification, climate change, and human disturbance continue to pose problems, but conservation action in specific areas seems to be making an impact. As these birds are migratory, conservation actions and threats impacting their populations occur both within the Southeast and in other parts of the species’ ranges.</span></p><p style='margin:12pt 0in 4pt;'><strong>Other information available</strong></p><p style='margin:0in;'><span style='background-attachment:initial; background-clip:initial; background-image:initial; background-origin:initial; background-position:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-size:initial;'>Species-specific summaries and tabular data associated with the chart above are available in Appendix I</span> of the pdf report: <a href='https://secassoutheast.org/pdf/SECAS-goal-report-2024.pdf' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>https://secassoutheast.org/pdf/SECAS-goal-report-2024.pdf</a>.</p>