By Eduardo Palacios

Piper is a short film by Disney Pixar that lasts six minutes and tells a story of shorebirds foraging on a typical sandy beach of the California region, and Ensenada -located in Baja California- is part of this region.

In this short film, the bird mom literally pushes her daughter Piper to fend on herself, and after some problems trying to get clams between the waves, the poor shorebird must conquer her aquaphobia.

In addition to certain inaccuracies in the plot, such as mixing nesting in a migration zone, the short film is cute, light and is one of those short films you simply cannot miss.

And what does Piper have to do with the conservation of shorebirds and their habitats in Ensenada? It turns out that thousands of these shorebirds, including the species that inspired the creators of Piper and that is known as Sanderling (Calidris alba), depend on sandy beaches during the autumn migration and the winter. The sandy beaches of Bahía Todos Santos, in particular the sandy bar of Estero of Punta Banda and the beach named Playa Hermosa, are very important for this species.

These sandy beaches provide plenty of food but they also should be safe and reliable places for birds to rest and feed. Human disturbance, especially that caused by unleashed dogs on beaches, does not allow shorebirds to gain weight and to gather the necessary fat reserves for long-distance migration, this due to exclusion and interrupted access to food resources and places of rest.

Instead of feeding and resting to recharge, the birds constantly fly and spend energy because of human disturbance.

Thousands of Sanderlings and other migratory shorebirds migrate and spend the winter in Bahía Todos Santos, and therefore, Terra Peninsular seeks to designate the bay as a new site for the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) with the support of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and CICESE.

Once designated the site, human disturbances will be reduced on sandy beaches by working with beach users to develop effective strategies for disturbance reduction for shorebirds.

Protecting these critical habitats is not only to benefit migratory shorebirds but it’s also important for the protection of ecosystem services on which we depend to face the challenges of climate change.

In addition, conserving sandy beaches and dunes not only ensures a suitable habitat for shorebirds but also increases coastal resilience to intense storms with coastal flooding and strong winds.

Conservation of shorebirds and their habitats benefits people in a variety of ways, and understanding and promoting these “ecosystem services” can help balance traditional economic arguments against conservation actions.