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

Spoon-billed Sandpipers in China (2 Viewers)

Great! I visited Nanpu last week and tried hard to find a Spooner but no luck.. Despite seeing tens of thousands of waders, we never found any large concentrations of Red-necked Stints. Had to make do with 1,500 Great Knot instead... Will try again in early September.
 
The bird with lime Engraved Leg Flag '09' on its leff tibia was marked as female on her nest on 15 June 2014 when her eggs were picked up for the 'Head Starting' project. Later this female together with her male produced a replacement clutch of eggs (3 chicks hached on 18 and 19 July). We did not observe this female after 19 July. Her standard metal band number is MOSKVA KS18828.
 
Great! I visited Nanpu last week and tried hard to find a Spooner but no luck.. Despite seeing tens of thousands of waders, we never found any large concentrations of Red-necked Stints. Had to make do with 1,500 Great Knot instead... Will try again in early September.

based on my observation in Rudong,Spooner doesnt tend to stay with Red-necked Stint more than the other waders.We often scan a flock of Dunlin and Sandling etc. for Spooner.
and the timing of Spooner's migration and moulting doesnt coincide with that of Red-necked Stint.Instead,it fits better with that of Dunlin etc.

I think it's partly due that some Red-necked Stints are long-range migrants--they go to Australia,while Spooner and Dunlin are just short-range migrants wintering in Asia.
From resightings of color-marked birds eg. Red-necked Stint,birds wintering in Thailand have different timing of migration from those wintering in Australia.Spooner tends to come and go with Thai birds rather than Australian birds.

Great Knots are arriving in Australia now,and in Rudong there're less and less Great Knots while more and more Dunlin&Spooner.
 
in the mid-autumn festival period(6~8 Sep), adult 01 was back in Rudong with another good breeding season finished,and 09 was also still there moulting into non-br pluamge!

as to 01's offspring
their first clutch of four eggs collected on 14/06/2014; 2 hatched (one being infertile and one embryo dying during the early stages of incubation).
The two chicks were both successfully reared and released on: 26/07/2014. M9 was last observed on: 02/08/2014 in Meino, being later re-sighted in Kamchatka. P9 was last observed in Meino on: 04/08/2014.
and at least 2 wild chicks fledged.
 
based on my observation in Rudong,Spooner doesnt tend to stay with Red-necked Stint more than the other waders.We often scan a flock of Dunlin and Sandling etc. for Spooner.
and the timing of Spooner's migration and moulting doesnt coincide with that of Red-necked Stint.Instead,it fits better with that of Dunlin etc.

I think it's partly due that some Red-necked Stints are long-range migrants--they go to Australia,while Spooner and Dunlin are just short-range migrants wintering in Asia.
From resightings of color-marked birds eg. Red-necked Stint,birds wintering in Thailand have different timing of migration from those wintering in Australia.Spooner tends to come and go with Thai birds rather than Australian birds.

Great Knots are arriving in Australia now,and in Rudong there're less and less Great Knots while more and more Dunlin&Spooner.

I agree with you Mc, in fact in Thailand, I often find them with bigger waders such as sandplovers, Curlew Sandpipers etc as well as those Red-necked Stints that overwinter in the Gulf. Dunlin is a scarce wintering bird in that region it seems.
 
I'm in Yangkou (Rudong). Birders and photographers saw at least 2 Spoon-billed Sandpipers today. I saw the birders from the sea wall and talked to some of them as they came up. Today's Spoon-billed Sandpipers were found in almost the exact same spot (+-200 m) from the place where Elaine and I saw 9 of them on 14 Sept. Meanwhile, the invasive spartina grass at Yangkou is spreading further and further S. Every year, more and more of the mudflats used by the Spoon-billed Sandpipers is engulfed by the grass. I've been coming to Yangkou for the past 5 years and can easily note the change.
 
The SBS Task Force team had 183 SBS in total in late Sep survey in Rudong,with many resightings of color-banded birds.
 
Tonight at Yangkou (Rudong) found 3 Spoon-billed Sandpiper & 2 Nordmann's Greenshank. No bands on any of "my" SBS nor on the other 2 SBS seen by Michael Grunwell. I saw 2 of my SBS well; both were adults, with one showing faint traces of breeding plumage. Both of my Nordmann's were juvs. (2-toned bill).
 
1 Spoon-billed Sandpiper picked out of roosting flock of ca. 2200 small shorebirds today by special guest David Kihlberg, Elaine, & me. Not easy work digging out 1 bird from among so many birds, many of which were sleeping, but a very useful exercise, & a thrill when SBS finally seen. 13 Nordmann's Greenshank yesterday. We're at Yangkou, Rudong.
 
This morning at Yangkou another spring tide, another inland roost, another big flock exclusively of the littler scolopacids (this time, ca. 3000 birds), & once again Elaine and I managed to pick out 1 Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Earlier, as tide was coming in, as many as 4 SBS on mudflats (1 seen by me, photographers nearby reported seeing 3).
 
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