Look for migratory shorebirds in tidal flats, marshes, rice fields, and other wetlands. Many are the same colour as the rocks and sand that often surround them, so they may be difficult to see. Most birds fly south to the breeding grounds in May-July period. After breeding, they fly north, and some species make a round trip of over 20,000 kilometres a year.
They eat well and get fat before the journey, then they use the fat as fuel during their long flight. By the time they reach their stop-over sites in areas like Japan and China they have used all their fat reserves and are little more than feathers and bones.
Staging sites, in wetlands on beaches and tidal flats, serve as vital stopping points for these birds on their migratory journey, places where they can rest and refuel to prepare for their long flights. Many major cities lie on the coast, and encroach the wetland so crucial to birds.
Since the rapid economic expansion of Japan, and other East Asian countries, many of these tidal flats have been filled in, and are still being filled in. The remaining tidal flats are vital for the existence of the migratory shorebirds. They are important to humans as places of natural beauty where we can come to escape our stress filled lives. They also have important roles in maintaining coastal fisheries.
We need two kinds of information to protect the birds and their habitat. First, numbers like how many of what species are coming when and to which habitats. Secondly, we also need information on migration paths -- which birds are coming from where and going to where, and where birds are breeding and they spend non-breeding season. From these data, we know what to do to save these birds.
For the purpose of conservation, researchers began attaching colour flags to the legs of shorebirds in addition to metal rings with numbers in banding programs since 1991. The colour scheme of these flags indicates the locations of where birds were caught. The total number of birds flagged reached over 80 000 by 1998.
The flags should be readily visible with binoculars or telescopes even from a distance. Now, even without catching the birds, we can keep track of them, and any observer can contribute information. With the improved system, data on migration has increased by 5 to 20 times.