How to Be a Shorebird Steward

Welcome! You are on your way to becoming a Shorebird Steward in South Carolina. Shorebird Steward volunteers are the boots on the ground that educate beachgoers about the importance of sharing the shore with our vulnerable coastal birds. They are trained and deployed at several sites along the South Carolina coast, working hard to protect nesting and resting shorebirds and seabirds.

Sign up for a 2026 training! 
Click the links below to sign up for a training. More trainings will be posted as they are planned:

If you cannot attend one of our in-person trainings, please see our online training video!
 

If you have any questions regarding these trainings, please reach out to abigail.burke@audubon.org 

Becoming a Steward is Simple!

Step one: Please attend an in-person training or watch the entire training video. Every steward must either attend a live training event or watch this video to be a Shorebird Steward. There is a lot of important information in this video and we are relying on the honor system and trust that you will watch the entire training video, which is linked at the bottom of this page. Returning volunteers, please watch this as a refresher if you feel you need it.

Step two: Fill out a liability form. Once you are finished watching this training session, please click on one of the two links on the right side of this page. If you are 18 or over, please fill out the adult liability form. If you are under 18 years of age, please fill out the child liability form with your parent or guardian. After you submit this liability form you can then sign up for volunteer shifts!

Step three: Sign up for shifts! After submitting your liability form, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to sign up for volunteer shifts. You can also sign up for your desired shifts at the links below. On each site shift sign-up page, there is important information to read through that is specific to each site.
 

1. Huntington Beach State Park
2. Folly Beach's Lighthouse Inlet
3. Hunting Island State Park *For Hunting Island shifts, please contact Terese Dick at terese.dick@icloud.com before signing up.
4. Dewees Island
5. Edisto Beach State Park
6. Harbor Island
7. Botany Bay
8. Morris Island *For Morris Island shifts, please contact Abby Burke at abigail.burke@audubon.org before signing up.
9. South Litchfield

Step four: Submit your Post-Shift Survey! This survey helps us to gather the important data we need to improve this program and further protect the birds on our beaches. You can find the survey here.