Charlie M
Well-known member
Hi All,
Just in case anyone still doubts the importance of what is being destroyed at Saemangeum in South Korea, here's an update Birds Korea has just sent out to its members:
The Birds Korea/Australasian Wader Studies Group Shorebird Monitoring Program at Saemangeum, South Korea, has been progressing very well for almost 2 weeks now, with daily counting of shorebirds and leg-flag checks within both the Saemangeum system and the neighboring Geum estuary. Both sites are highly threatened, with the 33-km long Saemangeum (pronounced Say-Man-Gum) sea wall due to be completed by April 24th, and the reclamation of the outer Geum estuary due to start next month...
Counting over the past couple of days within the vast Saemangeum system has found over 35 000 Great Knot already (with their peak in number expected within one or two weeks), while over 52 000 shorebirds were counted in the Geum estuary on April 13, most numerous being Dunlin (21, 402), Bar-tailed Godwit (14, 756), Great Knot (13, 908), Grey Plover (1, 362) and Far Eastern Curlew (979).
In addition, there was a probable (but extremely distant) Nordmann's Greenshank, and best of all, a full breeding-plumaged Spoon-billed Sandpiper (with likely a second individual in non-breeding plumage also present, but very distant): an exceptionally early spring record of an exceptionally charismatic and threatened species...
Tides (until the sea wall closes anyway) will continue to improve further over the next couple of days - coinciding it appears with massive arrivals of some species.
For (more-or-less) daily updates on the Shorebird Monitoring Program, please visit: http://www.birdskorea.org/birds_latest.asp
and for more on the Saemangeum reclamation,
http://www.birdskorea.org/saemref.asp
Nial and Charlie Moores, Park Meena, Kim Su Kyung
Birds Korea: The national and international network dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats.
Just in case anyone still doubts the importance of what is being destroyed at Saemangeum in South Korea, here's an update Birds Korea has just sent out to its members:
The Birds Korea/Australasian Wader Studies Group Shorebird Monitoring Program at Saemangeum, South Korea, has been progressing very well for almost 2 weeks now, with daily counting of shorebirds and leg-flag checks within both the Saemangeum system and the neighboring Geum estuary. Both sites are highly threatened, with the 33-km long Saemangeum (pronounced Say-Man-Gum) sea wall due to be completed by April 24th, and the reclamation of the outer Geum estuary due to start next month...
Counting over the past couple of days within the vast Saemangeum system has found over 35 000 Great Knot already (with their peak in number expected within one or two weeks), while over 52 000 shorebirds were counted in the Geum estuary on April 13, most numerous being Dunlin (21, 402), Bar-tailed Godwit (14, 756), Great Knot (13, 908), Grey Plover (1, 362) and Far Eastern Curlew (979).
In addition, there was a probable (but extremely distant) Nordmann's Greenshank, and best of all, a full breeding-plumaged Spoon-billed Sandpiper (with likely a second individual in non-breeding plumage also present, but very distant): an exceptionally early spring record of an exceptionally charismatic and threatened species...
Tides (until the sea wall closes anyway) will continue to improve further over the next couple of days - coinciding it appears with massive arrivals of some species.
For (more-or-less) daily updates on the Shorebird Monitoring Program, please visit: http://www.birdskorea.org/birds_latest.asp
and for more on the Saemangeum reclamation,
http://www.birdskorea.org/saemref.asp
Nial and Charlie Moores, Park Meena, Kim Su Kyung
Birds Korea: The national and international network dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats.
