In honor of advances made by Professor Allan J. Baker and fostered through his colleagues, partners and students in the Western Atlantic Flyway, the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Group wishes to present The Allan Baker Lifetime Achievement Award for Shorebird Conservation to an individual or team who has made similar contributions at each biennial meeting. The award recipient will receive a plaque, a monetary award, and be invited to give a plenary talk at the following Western Hemisphere Shorebird Group meeting.

Allan Baker was one of the world’s outstanding minds in shorebird conservation and genetics. The shorebird community misses him greatly following his passing on 20 November 2014. Born in Westport, New Zealand on 9 July 1943, Allan grew up on a small farm on the South Island. Likely inspired by the wildlife of the beaches that accompanied his childhood, he obtained a PhD on the ecology and evolutionary history of the world’s oystercatchers at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch in 1972. He then moved to Toronto, Canada, where he became the ornithology curator at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM); he soon became a leader in evolutionary genetics with a particular interest in understanding the evolution of shorebirds. He taught molecular evolution at the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Toronto and he directed a DNA laboratory at the ROM. He subsequently became the Senior Curator of Ornithology and Head of the Department of Natural History at this institution. Allan became deeply involved in the conservation of migratory shorebirds when large declines were being documented throughout the flyways of the world in the late 1990s. Along with Professor Theunis Piersma of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, he co-founded the Global Flyway Network; this group of international researchers focuses on identifying migratory shorebirds at risk, the reasons behind their population declines, and the implementation of conservation initiatives. Beginning in 1995, he partnered with Patricia M. González from Argentina and other colleagues to promote and build ties among the people living at the main sites used by the rufa Red Knot (Calidris canutus) throughout the Western Atlantic Flyway. During his many international banding expeditions in South America, Allan taught local students, rangers and volunteers about shorebird ecology and conservation. This team fosters scientific knowledge at sites throughout the flyway that can be translated into local conservation measures. Among the more than 180 papers published by him and his students/collaborators, one of his best cited papers is an investigation into the fitness consequences of decreased refueling rates and late arrival of Red Knots in Delaware Bay that was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. in 2004. His inspiration is alive through the work of his former students and colleagues, but also within the citizens of the many communities that feel the pride of receiving and protecting shorebirds along the flyway.

In honor of advances made by Professor Lewis Oring and fostered through his students, the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Group wishes to present The Lewis W. Oring Lifetime Achievement Award for Shorebird Research at each biennial meeting to an individual or team who has made similar contributions. The award recipient will receive a plaque, a monetary award, and be invited to give a plenary talk at the following Western Hemisphere Shorebird Group meeting.

Lew Oring is a world-renowned behavioral ecologist who dedicated his life to understanding full life cycle biology and mating systems in shorebirds of North America, Scandinavia, and Australia. Lew received his training in ornithology at the University of Oklahoma (1960-1966) where he worked with Dr. George M. Sutton studying molt in Gadwall (Anas strepera), but also began a study of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis). After receiving his Ph.D. he undertook two postdoctoral positions. One in Denmark with Dr. Hans Lind, at the University of Copenhagen, studying Green Sandpipers (Tringa ochropus); the other with Dr. Frank McKinney at the University of Minnesota, studying Solitary Sandpipers (T. solitaria) in Alberta, Canada.

Lew was a professor at the University of North Dakota for 22 years, where he sponsored 3 Post-doctoral Fellows, 5 Ph.D. students, and 13 M.S. students. There he began his long-term behavioral ecology study of the Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius). Assisted by graduate and post-graduate students, he unraveled many mysteries associated with the polyandrous mating system of this species. In 1991, Lew moved to the University of Nevada, Reno, where he mentored an additional 4 Post-doctoral Fellows, 5 Ph.D. students, and 2 M.S. students. In total, all seven Post-doctoral Fellows, seven of the 10 Ph.D.s, and four of the 15 M.S. students focused on the behavioral ecology of shorebirds. He retired in 2006 from the University of Nevada, Reno, where currently he is a Professor Emeritus. remains active in local conservation efforts and advising shorebird researchers. Many of Lew’s students occupy leading positions in academia and government in the U.S. and Canada where they continue their focus on shorebird ecology.

During his career, Lew and his students/collaborators published 159 papers. Lew intensely studied the breeding biology of 12 shorebird species, with a large focus on Spotted Sandpipers, American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana) and Killdeer (Charadrius vociferous). Landmark papers include a Science Citation Classic co-authored with Stephen T. Emlen entitled “Ecology, sexual selection, and the evolution of mating systems”; a Nature Classic entitled “Cuckoldry through stored sperm in the sequentially polyandrous Spotted Sandpiper” (later popularized in Natural History as “The early bird gives the sperm”); an Avian Biology monograph entitled “Avian Mating Systems;” and white papers entitled “National Shorebird Research Needs” prepared as part of the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan and “Guidelines for Use of Wild Birds in Research” with Toby Gaunt, which is the standard metric for all bird research.