We assessed shorebird use of artificial wetlands within the Mississipp
i Alluvial Valley during the winters of 1991-1992 and 1992-1993 and du
ring the autumn of 1994. On agricultural fields managed to provide hab
itat for waterfowl from November to March, mean shorebird density was
58.6 birds/100 ha, but shorebird densities were greater on soybean fie
lds than on rice or moist-soil fields. Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
and common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) were common throughout winter,
but shorebird abundance and species richness along survey routes incr
eased from November through April. During the late summer and autumn,
wetlands on public lands in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley are manage
d by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service specifically to provide foragi
ng habitat for shorebirds. From August through October 1994, we observ
ed 14,564 individual shorebirds of 22 species using these anthropogeni
c wetlands, Mean shorebird density on wetlands managed by flooding pre
viously dry, disked fields was 695 birds/100 ha, whereas mean density
on wetlands managed by drawing down water reservoirs was 1224 birds/10
0 ha. We recommend increased shallow-water flooding of agricultural fi
elds, particularly soybean fields, during winter to provide habitat fo
r wintering and early spring migrant shorebirds. More importantly, we
recommend continued water management on public wetlands from July thro
ugh October, peferably by drawing down water reservoirs, to provide fo
raging habitat for southward migrating shorebirds.