Shorebirds face numerous human-caused welfare threats including disturbance at nesting sites, light pollution, habitat loss, and ingestion of marine plastic and fishing gear entanglement.
Shorebird welfare is affected by a suite of human activities that intersect with their highly specialised ecology. Disturbance at nesting sites — a growing problem as beach and coastal recreation expands — causes adult birds to flush from nests, exposing eggs and chicks to thermal extremes and predators. The stress of repeated disturbance causes nest abandonment in sensitive species and leads to failed breeding seasons across entire beaches where human access is unmanaged. The welfare of individual birds is directly affected by the distress of being repeatedly flushed and the physiological cost of sustained alertness in disturbed environments. Migratory shorebirds depend on a chain of staging sites providing adequate food and rest along their routes; loss of any link in this chain forces birds to attempt journeys in poor condition. Plastic entanglement and ingestion cause slow deaths through starvation, infection, and restriction of movement. Lead poisoning from contaminated sediments causes neurological impairment and prolonged death. Interventions that protect coastal nesting habitat, reduce light pollution along migration routes, and address plastic pollution directly benefit the welfare of many millions of individual birds.