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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Summer Plumaged Spoon-billed Sandpiper, please. (1 Viewer)

KFC

KFC

Ken Tucker
I'd really like to see one of these - and I'm afraid that time is running out. What do you think is the best/easiest way to get to grips with one? To make matters worse, I'm a teacher and so can only travel during UK school holidays!

Any suggestions?

Ken
 
KFC said:
I'd really like to see one of these - and I'm afraid that time is running out. What do you think is the best/easiest way to get to grips with one? To make matters worse, I'm a teacher and so can only travel during UK school holidays!

Any suggestions?

Ken
Click to expand...

Ambitious:-

- I believe some of the birds at Fuzhou in SE China linger until week 2-3 May, so going out there at the extreme end of the Easter holidays may be your best shot (unless the lingerers are first summers). Ultra-fresh plumage is very white-fringed, as in Little Stint, so for the full blazing orange effect you have to catch them more like week 2 May or later.

- High tide at Yubu Island in South Korea late April, early May was a cert until very recently, but getting harder by the year and you have to hit the spring tides.
 
Shi Jin said:
I believe that August is a school-free month for most teachers in England. So, how about Fujian province at or around 17th August...

Here are the details...

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=120375
Click to expand...

Wow - now that looks like an exciting trip to do. I'll do some investigating.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I so hope this species is going to make it (with the help of Wildsounds the species champion and Russian Bird Conservation Union the species guardian). I'm afraid it's not looking good, however.

Ken
 
ed keeble said:
Ambitious:-
- I believe some of the birds at Fuzhou in SE China linger until week 2-3 May, so going out there at the extreme end of the Easter holidays may be your best shot (unless the lingerers are first summers). Ultra-fresh plumage is very white-fringed, as in Little Stint, so for the full blazing orange effect you have to catch them more like week 2 May or later.
- High tide at Yubu Island in South Korea late April, early May was a cert until very recently, but getting harder by the year and you have to hit the spring tides.
Click to expand...
Ed,

I love the image of Spoon-billed Sand that you created for BirdsKorea:
http://www.birdskorea.org/Habitats/Wetlands/Saemangeum/BK-HA-SSMP-report-2006.shtml

I'm afraid that I ignored your copyright - an illicit and now rather faded print-out of it takes pride of place on the wall next to my PC. ;)

Richard
 
KFC said:
Isn't it stunning? And criminal that we weren't able to save Saemangeum (the report which it adorns).

Has Saemangeum definitely been lost forever, now?

K
Click to expand...

As I understand it, still not clear what on earth is going to be done with the "land" inside the barrier. First it was to be ricefields, but not enough clean water for that, then the "Dubai of the east" with 32 18 hole golf courses (i.e. 500+ holes..) and a Formula 1 style racetrack then...

The indefatigable Birds Korea team are still campaigning for the barrier to be re-opened to let in some tidal flow, but all very difficult as you can imagine.
 
KFC said:
Is there anything we can do?
Click to expand...

The more I read about this, the more frustrating and saddening it becomes.

If it's become a bit of a white elephant, is there no way a world-wide group of birders could buy Semangeum and re-flood it? I know that I'm incredibly naiive. Would it cost millions or billions? I'm sure that if this were possible, the inspiring Nial Moores would have already made it happen. Just asking...
 
KFC said:
The more I read about this, the more frustrating and saddening it becomes.

If it's become a bit of a white elephant, is there no way a world-wide group of birders could buy Semangeum and re-flood it? I know that I'm incredibly naiive. Would it cost millions or billions? I'm sure that if this were possible, the inspiring Nial Moores would have already made it happen. Just asking...
Click to expand...


Nice thought, but you were right with the billions. Think 400 square kilometres of flat land in a heavily industrialised mountainous country...with current plans to invest (or throw away, depending on your point of view) $18 billion on it: http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2010/01/30/201001300033.asp
 
Thanks for that link. A quote from it appears below - it beggars belief that that the developers could use the term 'eco-friendly'

The government began filling the Saemangeum estuary in 1991 to create farmland on the tidal flat that spreads 400 square kilometers. The decline of the farming industry, however, led the government to change its mind last July to turn the reclaimed land into an eco-friendly business city.
 
Spoon-billed Sandpiper is the number one bird on my "to-see" list. Are there any recent updates on the numbers of birds wintering in China, Thailand and Burma? Are any wintering in Hong Kong?

Certainly the news that the species does not seem to be breeding in core areas certainly doesn't inspire much confidence in its survival beyond the next 5 to 10 years. I guess it will be the same as for Slender-billed Curlew, with fewer and fewer records of older birds.

Are there any plans for captive breeding or would this not be feasible?
 
Peppershrike

Take a look at these two threads for info on records in China...

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=120375
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=123716

And look here for news on status and current measures...

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=3060&m=0

And this is the first of a fantastic series of articles by Charlie Moores...

http://10000birds.com/the-spoon-billed-sandpiper-part-one-of-six.htm

Hope the links answer some of your questions
Ken
 
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