Shorebirds undertaking some of the longest migrations of any animal depend on increasingly threatened tidal flat stopovers that are being lost to coastal development across East Asia.
Migratory shorebirds arriving at stopover sites depleted from trans-oceanic flight require immediate access to high-density prey in tidal flats to rebuild energy reserves for the next leg of migration. When stopover habitat is degraded or lost, birds must continue migration in insufficient condition, facing starvation, poor immune function, and reduced reproductive success if they reach breeding grounds at all. The loss of tidal flat stopover habitat represents a welfare crisis affecting hundreds of millions of birds in one of the most demanding endurance challenges in the animal world.