This article follows shorebirds-migratory animals that have gone from game to nongame animals over the course of the past century in North America-as a way to track modern field biology, bureaucratic institutions, and the valuation of wildlife. Doing so allows me to make interrelated arguments about the history of wildlife management and science. The first is to note the endurance of observation-based natural history methods in field biology over the long twentieth century and the importance of these methods for the persistent contribution of amateurs. The second major line of argument advances the historical significance of scientific, government bureaucracies as sites of natural knowledge production. Historians of biology and ecology have tended to stress scientists with institutional homes in universities, museums, and at land-grant field stations-particularly as various forms of field biology became professionalized over the twentieth century. In contrast, migratory animals like shorebirds, whether under the auspices of the US Biological Survey or the contemporary Fish and Wildlife Service, were primarily studied and conserved by biologists in bureaucratic agencies. Mid- to low-level bureaucrats, along with avocational birders, have mainly been responsible for developing what we know about shorebird migration, behavior, and life history. And third, shorebirds foreground the importance of bureaucratic context for the valuation of nature, from their economic value to agriculture in the early twentieth century to their value as rare, endangered species in the twentyfirst.

中文翻译：

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重视水鸟：北美保护的官僚作风、自然历史和专业知识

本文追踪滨鸟——在过去的一个世纪里在北美从猎物变成非猎物的迁徙动物——作为追踪现代野外生物学、官僚机构和野生动物估价的一种方式。这样做使我能够就野生动物管理和科学的历史提出相互关联的论点。首先是要注意二十世纪以来野外生物学中基于观察的自然历史方法的持久性，以及这些方法对业余爱好者的持续贡献的重要性。第二个主要论点提出了科学的政府官僚机构作为自然知识生产场所的历史意义。生物学和生态学历史学家倾向于强调在大学、博物馆、以及在赠地野外站——特别是随着各种形式的野外生物学在 20 世纪变得专业化。相比之下，像滨鸟这样的迁徙动物，无论是在美国生物调查局还是当代鱼类和野生动物管理局的支持下，主要是由官僚机构的生物学家研究和保护的。中低层官僚以及业余鸟类主要负责发展我们对滨鸟迁徙、行为和生活史的了解。第三，滨鸟突出了官僚背景对自然估值的重要性，从 20 世纪初的经济价值到农业，再到 21 世纪作为稀有、濒危物种的价值。