[rockfowl]

Originally Posted by MKinHK

the HK Government has closed Mai Po for 21 days because a dead Barn Swallow was found with H5 virus nearby - see the Govt and WWF press releases here.

A reminder that this is nonsense:

How many proven cases of human H5N1 infection from wild birds anywhere in the world?

ZERO

Cheers
Mike

Terrible news Mike, I guess thats the important observation period wiped out!

[rockfowl]

Originally Posted by mcaribou

one in Rudong Saltworks today-a gift for my birthday!

Congratulations and yes, Happy Birthday, what a memorable present!

[Gretchen]

Originally Posted by rockfowl

I guess thats the important observation period wiped out!

Ahh, I was wondering the relation.... thanks for saying.

[mcaribou]

today at Rudong,even with the very low tide,I saw one Spooner,and two Nordmann's Greenshank in a small flock of waders(about 1,500).

[KFC]

This is good news - thanks for keeping us informed. I'm very excited about my trip to Rudong in August. Let's hope they have a good breeding season.

Two new links to the Bangladesh winter survey below...

http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=2029
http://punkbirder.webs.com/latestsightings.htm

Ken

[tongmenxiu]

From last winnter to now, Minjiangkou(Fuzhou) always have few records every month, maybe will stay till May or later?

[KFC]

Originally Posted by tongmenxiu

From last winnter to now, Minjiangkou(Fuzhou) always have few records every month, maybe will stay till May or later?

Although I have learnt about this wintering site this year, I don't think it is generally known about by many birders. Every single spooner is important. Good to know they've been there this winter, too.

Ken

[rockfowl]

Originally Posted by mcaribou

today at Rudong,even with the very low tide,I saw one Spooner,and two Nordmann's Greenshank in a small flock of waders(about 1,500).

Thanks again Mcaribou, all important observations, keep up the good work and may you be blessed with a surprise lifer very soon

[mcaribou]

17 Apr at Rudong I saw 21+ Spooner(probably more than 30) within 10 meters!
18 Apr at Dongtai,to the north of Rudong,a potential good shorebird site I found in winter,although rainy and low visibility,I saw 2 Spooner when the tide pushed them quite close.

[rockfowl]

Originally Posted by mcaribou

17 Apr at Rudong I saw 21+ Spooner(probably more than 30) within 10 meters!
18 Apr at Dongtai,to the north of Rudong,a potential good shorebird site I found in winter,although rainy and low visibility,I saw 2 Spooner when the tide pushed them quite close.

Fantastic stuff, lucky you, bet there were quite a few nice red ones too! That's the most impressive count of spooners I think I heard of from China in recent years, well done.

[Shi Jin]

Wonderful !!

[MKinHK]

great count! congratulations!

Mike

[KFC]

That's the best news I've heard in a long time. Do the survey/recovery team follow this thread? Would you mind if I post your records on the Spoon-billed sand Facebook site, Mcaribou? I know that members of the survey/recovery team follow that.

Such good news - well done.

Ken

[rockfowl]

Originally Posted by KFC

That's the best news I've heard in a long time. Do the survey/recovery team follow this thread? Would you mind if I post your records on the Spoon-billed sand Facebook site, Mcaribou? I know that members of the survey/recovery team follow that.

Such good news - well done.

Ken

I've been sending them in Ken, it's the reason I started the thread

[lewis20126]

Originally Posted by KFC

That's the best news I've heard in a long time. Do the survey/recovery team follow this thread? Would you mind if I post your records on the Spoon-billed sand Facebook site, Mcaribou? I know that members of the survey/recovery team follow that.

Such good news - well done.

Ken

Keep track of them - only four weeks to go! Surely one can stay...

a

[KFC]

Originally Posted by lewis20126

Keep track of them - only four weeks to go! Surely one can stay...

a

Good luck Lewis20126. I'm there in the Autumn (if planes are still staying in the sky) but more than me seeing them - I just hope they have a good breeding season. They desperately need some recruitment.

Thanks for the info, Rockfowl and well done.

Ken

[china guy]

Would you mind if I post your records on the Spoon-billed sand Facebook site

We who live in China - because Facebook and Blogspot are not allowed here - miss out on a lot of info from these sites!!!!! If anything interesting crops up in areas of cyber-world that are denied to Chinese birders - please post them up for us to read.

[mcaribou]

No idea what was the case in last April.I was not there until 28 Apr.
Between Rudong and Shanghai,there's a county called Qidong which also holds some good mudflats I visited several years ago in winter.Hopefully Spooner can also be found.

[KFC]

Originally Posted by china guy

We who live in China - because Facebook and Blogspot are not allowed here - miss out on a lot of info from these sites!!!!! If anything interesting crops up in areas of cyber-world that are denied to Chinese birders - please post them up for us to read.

Of course - I will take a look later and post some links. Can you access Youtube? I'm assuming, not.

Ken

[KFC]

Here are some links...

Bangladesh spooner diary part 1 here (still waiting for part 2)... http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=2029
Some photos from the trip here... http://punkbirder.webs.com/latestsightings.htm
Youtube video here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOs_GvqDHzQ
And a different one here from Graham Chisholm... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CNqI...layer_embedded

And this is something Graham Chisholm had to say about his trip to Burma...

In late January an international expedition organized under the auspices of BirdLife International surveyed for Spoon-billed Sandpipers in Myanmar (Burma). The group of Burmese, Europeans and Americans survey portions of coastal Myanmar in the Gulf of Martaban seeking to document the wintering locations for this ultra-...rare sandpiper.


I joined the expedition’s last four days when we surveyed a small offshore island in the northern end of the Gulf of Martaban just off the communities of Bilin and Kyaikto. Over the course of these two days, we spotted at least 71 Spoon-billed Sandpipers among more than 35,000 shorebirds. The site is extraordinary. Each morning we would arrive when the salt marsh and mud flat island was still under the high tides, and as the tide dropped large numbers of shorebirds would show up including Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers, Pacific Golden and Kentish Plovers, Curlew Sandpipers, Marsh Sandpipers, Greenshanks, Redshanks, Rufous-necked Stints along with many other species.


These surveys were part of a coordinated effort to survey Myanmar for the third winter. Over the course of several weeks other sites in Myanmar were also surveyed, and an estimated 89 Spoon-billed Sandpipers were observed.


BirdLife International has been sponsoring a series of surveys on the breeding and wintering grounds, including three years of surveys in Myanmar which has emerged as holding the most wintering birds. Dr. Christoph Zoeckler with ArcCona Ecological Consulting, and organizer of the surveys, estimates that the Gulf of Martaban alone, may hold 150-200 birds or 50% of the world’s population. Small numbers of Spoon-billed Sandpipers winter in Bangladesh (15 were observed in early 2010), Thailand (a minimum of six were observed in early 2010), Vietnam and China.

A social economic survey team covered the same area and will provide important information to help craft strategies to provide alternative sources of income that will reduce trapping of shorebirds in key Spoon-billed Sandpiper wintering sites.

The international survey team that conducted this survey was part of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Recovery Team with members of ArcCona Consulting, Cambridge and the British Trust for Ornithology, UK, from Birds Russia, and participants from Germany, Canada and U.S., teamed with and well looked after in Myanmar by local BirdLife partner BANCA.

Hope you are able to access some of these links. There were some great photos too. I'll ask the photographers if I can post them here as they were on Facebook and so will not be available to you.

Ken

[rockfowl]

If you can't access YouTube, I've posted some of my videos and images here - http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/spoon...ynchus-pygmeus and here - http://web.mac.com/s.m.andrews/smand...Sandpiper.html Must change the rather old breaking news!

[tongmenxiu]

4.18 Minjiang Estuary, Fujian 2+（1 juv. ,1 breeding plumage）

[rockfowl]

Originally Posted by tongmenxiu

4.18 Minjiang Estuary, Fujian 2+（1 juv. ,1 breeding plumage）

Thankyou. You mean 1 non-breeding/winter plumage, 1 summer/breeding plumage though.

[KFC]

Don't forget that there are some links on this other Birdforum thread...

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread....31#post1799431

Ken

[KFC]

and an interview with David Sibley about spooners now here .
Also a chance to win a David Sibley painting of the wee beastie while raising money for bird conservation. I would urge all birders to give it a go (much as I want to keep it secret and win the painting myself) and if you run a Blog or similar, please post a link to the site.

Ken