Last month, we celebrated the return of one of our tagged Curlew Sandpipers, WEMBERE, to Africa after several months travelling to and from his breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra. Now, just a few weeks later, we have another reason to celebrate: WEMBERE, a presumed male bird, is back in Velddrif, along South Africa’s west coast – the very place where we fitted him with a satellite tracker in February 2026.

Here, he will spend the next several months resting and refuelling before beginning the journey north once again.

I’m in awe of the lines on the map. This tiny bird has travelled more than 25 000 km in less than seven months. We can’t fully comprehend all the threats he has had to overcome along the way, or the energy and resilience required to complete such an extraordinary journey.

And yet, when we see migratory birds arriving along our coastline each summer, how often do we stop to think about what they have endured to get here? Or about our role in ensuring they can make the journey again?

The west coast plays an incredibly important role in WEMBERE’s survival. He will spend several months here resting, feeding and building up the fat reserves he needs to make the return journey to the Arctic tundra, where he will breed and contribute to the next generation of Curlew Sandpipers. If the sites he depends on along the west coast become degraded, so too does the chance of birds like WEMBERE completing their journey successfully.

WEMBERE’s safe return is something to celebrate. But it is also a reminder of why this work matters.

Just days ago, reports from BirdLife Malta highlighted the illegal shooting of migratory birds, such as European Rollers and Little Egrets, following storms over the Mediterranean. Birds travelling south towards Africa had been forced to seek shelter on the Maltese Islands, putting them in the path of another threat during an already hazardous journey.

Sadly, this is not an isolated incident.

Millions of birds are illegally killed or taken every year across the Mediterranean and wider African-Eurasian Flyway. BirdLife International and EuroNatur’s Killing 3.0 report found that an estimated 11–36 million birds are illegally killed or taken in the Mediterranean region each year.

For migratory birds, the consequences extend far beyond national borders. A bird can be protected in one country, only to face intense persecution thousands of kilometres away. Conservation success in one part of the flyway can be undermined by threats in another.

And the birds are already under enormous pressure. The State of the World’s Birds, released by BirdLife International at the Global Flyways Summit in Nairobi, found that 45% of migratory bird species are now in decline, while one in nine is threatened with extinction.

This is why the recent Global Flyways Summit in Nairobi was so important.

BirdLife South Africa joined BirdLife Partners, NGOs, governments and financial institutions in signing the Nairobi Flyways Declaration – a global commitment to strengthen cooperation and protect migratory birds and the habitats they depend on throughout their journeys.

The Declaration recognises something that WEMBERE’s tracking data illustrates so clearly: a flyway is a connected network. The wetlands and estuaries we protect here in South Africa are linked to stopover sites across Africa and beyond, and ultimately to breeding grounds in the Arctic.

Protecting one site is not enough if the next link in the chain is being degraded, destroyed or threatened.

WEMBERE has given us a remarkable window into this journey. His tiny satellite tracker shows us where he travels and where he stops to rest and refuel. But it also reminds us that tracking the journey is only the beginning. We need to use what we learn to protect the places these birds depend on, and to work with partners across the flyway to address the threats they face along the way.

For a bird weighing just 60 grams, 25 000 kilometres is an extraordinary journey.

For us working to protect the species, it’s a reminder that birds don’t recognise national borders and neither can our conservation efforts.