Scherer and Petry • SEASONAL VARIATION IN SHOREBIRD ABUNDANCE 
49 
Lara-Resende and Leeuwenberg 1987, Morrison 
and Ross 1989. Blanco et al. 2006). We observed 
a few individuals on the beaches from Balneario 
Pinha] to Mostardas during the austral summer 
with abundance increasing at the beginning of the 
austral autumn (Mar and Apr), when the popula¬ 
tion returns from wintering areas on migration to 
North America. This indicates the importance of 
these beaches for stopover and feeding sites prior 
to migration. 
CONSERVATION IMPLICATIONS 
Knowledge of stopover and wintering areas is 
critical to the conservation of migratory shore- 
birds. as these sites require special care (Lara- 
Resende and Leeuwenberg 1987, Myers et al. 
1990) through an internationally coordinated 
effort directed al protecting breeding, stopover, 
and wintering areas (Morrison 1984, Morrison 
et al. 2004). The beaches from Balneario Pinhal 
to Mostardas in the Stale of Rio Grande do Sul 
(southern Brazil) are used by large numbers of 
shorebirds as stopover and wintering areas, 
especially Sanderlings, White-rumped Sandpip¬ 
ers and Red Knots. Our study underscores the 
importance of these beaches as priority areas for 
implementation of conservation projects directed 
at these shorebirds and serves as a basis for future 
comparisons addressing the impact of environ¬ 
mental changes on these species (Piersma and 
Lindsirorn 2004). 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
Ihe authors are grateful to the Wildlife Conservation 
s "ciei.v (WCS) for funding (his study (Contract « 2008005). 
v L Scherer is grateful to the Brazilian fostering agency 
1 'Vinlena^ao de Apcrfciyoamcnto de Pcssoal de Ensino 
'jperior (CAPES) for a study grant awarded from the 
1 digram a de Supoiie h Pds-Graduayao de InstituiyoCS de 
Ensino Paniculares (PROSUP). We thank R. (i. de Mourn 
11 ' r help drawing Figure I. and S. M. A/cvedo-Junior and 
L H. Oliveira for helpful comments and reviews. 
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