Date: 7/9/25 8:14 am From: <jrees...> Subject: RE: [MASSBIRD] Update to New England Shorebird Guide
Thanks, Eric! I was looking for a way to do exactly that.
Jeff Rees
Auburn, MA
From: <massbird-approval...> <massbird-approval...> On Behalf Of Eric Mueller
Sent: Tuesday, July 8, 2025 9:30 PM
To: <sohzendeh...>
Cc: <massbird...>; Arlingtonbirds <Arlingtonbirds...>; <Bostonshorebirds...>
Subject: Re: [MASSBIRD] Update to New England Shorebird Guide
Hi all,
Many thanks to Soheil and all of the other folks who created this great shorebird guide, and to Bird Observer for making it available to everyone!
For those of us who aren't iPhone users (gasp!) and instead use the Chrome browser on our Android smartphones, there's also a simple way to add the website as an icon on your phone. Just click on the https://www.birdobserver.org/Better-Birding/New-England-Shorebird-Guide URL, and when that opens, click on the 3 vertical dots in the upper right corner of your screen. When the small black window opens, click on the "Add to Home Screen" function. That should add the Shorebird icon to your home screen, and you can then move that icon wherever you want. Easy peasy!
New England Shorebird Guide, a photographic guide to our shorebirds freely
available on the Bird Observer site, is now updated to cover 28 species of
shorebirds:
Due to severe declines in the populations of most shorebird species over the
past several decades, I think it is important that bird and nature-lovers
become as familiar as possible with these birds and advocate for their
conservation. Shorebirds are reputed to be difficult to identify. This may
be true for some species, but it is also partly due to the fact that most
shorebird species are highly migratory and travel long distances during the
course of a year. Most are in our region for only a few weeks every year, so
they are easy to miss and hard to learn to identify.
By learning their habits and habitats, as well as their behavior, shapes,
and plumages, most observers can identify 20-plus species-perhaps up to 30
species of shorebird-in New England and adjoining states and provinces each
year. To increase the fan base of appreciation for these birds, I created
the visual guide to shorebirds of New England and Bird Observer is
generously providing free access on its website.
The guide is designed primarily as a visual aid that can be used in the
field on your smart phone; it can also be installed on your tablet or
computer. I have prepared a brief user manual for the guide:
I hope you find this guide useful for finding and identifying shorebirds in
our region. It is also important that you communicate to me the
shortcomings, errors, and inconsistencies of the guide so that I can improve
future versions. You can reach me at <sohzendeh...> <mailto:<sohzendeh...> .
New England Shorebird Guide content was created by Soheil Zendeh. Marsha
Salett of Bird Observer was the editor. Eric Swanzey, web manager for Bird
Observer and other Massachusetts birding sites, created the web app.
Instructions for installing the guide icon on your iPhone were provided by
Jay Dia. The photos in the guide were contributed by many generous
photographers.
July, August and September are peak migration period for most shorebirds.
Enjoy them right now.
