[rockfowl]

Thankyou Zhang Li,

Failed to find any in Hebei, though the stint numbers were low so no surprise. I did hear of one being seen by a Chinese birder during the International Bird Race but the location was rather loosely described and its a big coast!

Mark

[KFC]

Spoon-billed sands discussed on the BBC Radio 4 show 'Saving Species' today (programme 9). You can listen to it here... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rt8qq

[KFC]

...and a report on Christophe Zockler's paper here with a link to the summary.

[mcaribou]

Yesterday at Rudong I saw over 1,500 waders.
Waiting for Spooner's coming back.

[mcaribou]

forgot to add:
one in breeding plumage photoed at Beilun Estuary NR,Fangchenggang,Guangxi on 27 Apr by Ma Yanju.
It's quite close to Vietnam.
At Rudong more shorebirds coming back but I will miss the first Spooner this autumn until I come back from Vietnam.

[portnoy58]

Originally Posted by mcaribou

forgot to add:
one in breeding plumage photoed at Beilun Estuary NR,Fangchenggang,Guangxi on 27 Apr by Ma Yanju.
It's quite close to Vietnam.
At Rudong more shorebirds coming back but I will miss the first Spooner this autumn until I come back from Vietnam.

One SBS was seen at Khok Kham, Inner Gulf of Thailand on 21st July 2010. follow this link for more info . Not quite China but thought readers maybe interested. gerry

http://www.bcst.or.th/index.php?opti...id=108&lang=en

[tongmenxiu]

One of birders from Shanghai, has got a nice shot of Spoon-billed Sandpiper on last Sunday. See the attached picture. This is the first one we have for the autumn migrant.
Next week Rudong SPS survey will start!
photo by Juming

[mcaribou]

on 24 Aug in Rudong,we saw 4 on one of the high tide roost and then 6 on one of the feeding ground.Total number should be 8+.
25 Aug KFC and I visited another high tide roost while tongmenxiu stayed at the same place as in 24 Aug.He got 6 and we got 2.Total number is 8 in which there was a different individual from the ones on 24 Aug.

[mcaribou]

4 Sep,with a very low tide,we saw 2 br Spooner at Rudong.

[mcaribou]

On 11 Sep we visited Jianggang,Dongtai where I saw Spooner in spring.This time we didnt see any Spooner.
On 12 Sep we were in Rudong but not enough time to find it.
On 13 in Rudong I saw one non-br while Terry Townshend saw one br.On 14 at another spot 10km from the one on 13 we saw three non-br.So on 13/14 we actually saw 4+.

[mcaribou]

Great！Tongmenxiu saw 13 Spooner at Rudong on 20 Sep,the largest tally this autumn.

[mcaribou]

24 Sep,Hengsha Island,Shanghai by Chai Yujia.
Total number is two.

[KFC]

Originally Posted by mcaribou

24 Sep,Hengsha Island,Shanghai by Chai Yujia.
Total number is two.

I think you could be right. It seems to agree with images here of a bird identified as a juvenile.

That's good news. Is this the only potential juvenile anyone has seen so far this autumn?

Ken

[mcaribou]

Both of the two are juv.

[rockfowl]

Great news Mcaribou, keep up the good work.

[Terry Townshend]

Originally Posted by mcaribou

Great！Tongmenxiu saw 13 Spooner at Rudong on 20 Sep,the largest tally this autumn.

That's brilliant news.. Congratulations to Tongmenxiu!

[rockfowl]

Congratulations indeed. Thought this was rather good Terry, a nice feel for this evidently important location - http://vimeo.com/15022574

[ed keeble]

Originally Posted by rockfowl

Congratulations indeed. Thought this was rather good Terry, a nice feel for this evidently important location - http://vimeo.com/15022574

great evocative bit o' vid- stopping starting whilst loading on my computah made the overtaking in the road sequences even more terrifying

[mcaribou]

26 Sep in restricted time I saw only one non-br Spooner in Rudong,with 17 Nordmann's Greenshank.

[mcaribou]

Oh my!Tongmenxiu saw 24+ Spooner at Rudong on 29 Sep!

[Terry Townshend]

Wow! Brilliant news.. Did he identify many as juveniles?

[KFC]

Originally Posted by mcaribou

Oh my!Tongmenxiu saw 24+ Spooner at Rudong on 29 Sep!

Oh my, indeed! The best news I've heard in quite a while. I hope some of them are juvs - that would be even better news.

As for Terry's video, that captures the Drive to Rudong excellently and is great fun to watch from the comfort of my sofa. From the back seat of the car it was slightly less funny (just hysterical laughter) but well worth it for the superb views of spoon-billed sandpipers.

Keep up the good work Tongmenxiu and Mcaribou!

Ken

[lewis20126]

Originally Posted by mcaribou

Oh my!Tongmenxiu saw 24+ Spooner at Rudong on 29 Sep!

Great stuff - one of the highlights of the year seeing the spooners at Rudong this spring; did you ever find out where that green-flagged bird was ringed?

Is there any hope for this site in the long run?

cheers, alan

[tony.saw]

Hi
It would appear that the end of September is the best time to go to Rodong to see Spoon-billed Sandpiper. How would this fit in with travelling to see (hopefully) Giant Pandas in Foping and Crested Ibis? Would there be more chance in the spring to see all of the above?
Thanks
Tony

[James Eaton]

Tony,

I think end of September is just starting to get into the good time of year for Pandas - I know Oct-Dec is excellent for these and the other mammals, ie Takin, Goral, Serow, Golden Snub-noses etc but really not sure about September - ask the panda project team. May is a great time of year for pandas (everything else is really tough) as not only are they relatively easy to see the weather is nice too - the rangers were telling us about how much they didn't enjoy crunching through the snow at -10 during the late autumn and winter months!

Crested Ibis is very easy every day of the year!

Great news with the Spooners, must be a great sight.

James