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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KFC" data-source="post: 1915946" data-attributes="member: 60065">Thanks everyone. I just bought a plane ticket and hired a guide. It was Birdforum contributors that told me about this site. The congratulations should really go to the Shanghai-based birders who have identified the Yangkou area of Rudong and monitored the birds there. It's an incredibly important site, with Spoon-billed Sandpipers present for a significant part of the year in spring (Apr-May) and autumn (Aug-Oct). The largest count during the last couple of years being 23. There are other important species present. I saw 33 species of wader which included red and great knot, Nordman's greenshank, far eastern curlews, grey-tailed tattler and huge numbers of lesser sand plovers... as well as Saunder's gulls. And they're in impressive numbers; we counted one roost of mixed waders totalling more that 20 000 birds which was just a part (albeit a significant one) of the total number of birds using the site!Some of the site has already been reclaimed to create fishponds and areas for wind turbines. In fact it was a reclaimed area that held the big roost. However, there are plans to reclaim more of the mudflats which is likely to be disastrous for so many species. The birders there are now in contact with Cristoph Zöckler and so at least their data can become part of the bigger picture.The area is truly amazing.Ken</blockquote>