Western Hemisphere Shorebird Group: Fifth Meeting, 17–21 September 2013, Santa Marta, Colombia

The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Group (WHSG) held its Fifth Meeting in Santa Marta, Colombia, during 17–21 September 2013, following previous meetings in Boulder, Colorado (2006), Venezuela (2007), Mazatlan, Mexico (2009) and Vancouver, British Colombia (2011). The Fifth Meeting attracted 137 attendees from 15 countries who enjoyed different options for a field trip, from the lowlands in Isla Salamanca, Ciénaga Grande and Tayrona National Parks up to the Minca, the gate of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The meeting had a full program with four plenary speakers, 108 oral presentations including those in six symposia and six workshops, 21 posters and two associated meetings of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) and the Waterbirds Council. Courses on Scientific Writing and Methods of Trophic Ecology of Shorebirds were held on 15–16 September. After the scientific program the attendees were welcomed to meet and chat and conduct shorebird business in the pool. The full meeting program and the abstracts are available online at http:// calidris.org.co/WHSG/programa.html. We had very interesting talks from four plenary speakers. Ron Ydenberg discussed predator effects on shorebirds, José Masero reviewed his long-term studies on shorebirds occurring in rice-fields in Spain, Mark Colwell described the challenges of managing the Snowy Plover, and Lourdes Mugica took the audience to Cuba to learn about shorebirds and habitats in that country. A student prize committee chaired by Bob Gill awarded the Best Oral Paper Award to Willow English for her talk entitled ‘Weather and the consequences of extended incubation in a uniparental Arctic-breeding shorebird, the Rednecked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus)’, with Kirsten Grond as runner-up speaking on ‘Campylobacter and the gastro-intestinal microbiota of shorebirds staging in Delaware Bay’. The Best Poster Award went to Natalia Martinez Curci for her poster entitled ‘Confirmation of Eastern (Tringa semipalmata semipalmata) and Western (T. s. inornata) Willets in Southeastern South America’. The Cutest Baby Shorebird Picture went to Brad Winn for a picture of a one-day-old Red Knot. The WHSG paid tribute to Charles Duncan and Richard Lanctot for their continuous commitment with Western Hemisphere Shorebird Science and conservation. Throughout the meeting, Auturo May and Nicholas Gibler provided simultaneous translation into Spanish or English. Such translations were made possible thanks to Garry Donaldson and Cynthia Pekarik of the Canadian Wildlife Service and Lee Tibbitts of the US Geological Survey. This meeting was possible thanks to the interest and support of a big group of people and organizations. At a national level, we want to highlight the support from the very beginning of the National Parks of the Caribbean Region of Colombia, especially from our colleague and friend Rebeca Franke-Ante. We also want to express our gratitude to Dr Luz Elvira Angarita, director of Territorial Caribe National Parks, and to the Vía Parque Isla de Salamanca Road Park and Flora and Fauna Sanctuary of Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta managers: Patricia Saldaña and Alejandro Bastidas. We appreciate the support of Conservation International – Colombia, especially thanks to José Vicente Rodríguez and Maria Claudia Diazgranados, who believed in the meeting and whose financial support guaranteed the participation of several Latin American participants. Thank you so much to Captain Francisco Arias the Director of INVEMAR, as well as to biologists David Alonso and Luis Chasqui for providing institutional facilities to hold one of the courses prior to the meeting. We want to highlight as well all the contributions of Carol Lively, of the International Programs of the US Forest Service, who raised the first funds for the meeting. Greg Butcher and Jim Chu, also from International Programs, maintained interest and support for bringing the meeting to fruition. The US Fish & Wildlife Service Regions 5 and 7 contributed funds for the meeting: thanks to Scott Johnston, Rick Lanctot and Jennifer Wheeler for their commitment with this task. In addition, the meeting benefited from travel award funds acquired by or provided personally by a number of people, including Bonnie S. Bowen, Brad Andres, David Lank, David Mizrahi, Gwen Brewer, Ian Semple, James Fraser, Jim Chu, Jim Johnson, Lee Tibbitts, Rick Lanctot, Rob Butler from Pacific WildLife Foundation, Ron Ydenberg, Scott W. Gillihan, Susan Haig and Susan Skagen. This support allowed the Travel Award Committee to provide funds to 43 people. The Scientific Committee chaired by Guillermo Fernandez and composed of Bob Gill, Jim Johnson and Rob Clay carefully read, selected and organized both posters and paper presentations. Mark Colwell, José A. Masero, Lourdes Mugica and Ron Ydenberg provided major support to the program by presenting plenary lectures. Similarly, Abby Powell, Rick Lanctot and Luis Bala coordinated and designed the courses and workshops before the meeting. Lastly, this event was enhanced by the participation of many friends and acquaintances from a great variety of places who