Bird news from Subhojit Chakladar
Accompanied by a team of Birds Koreans and some other friends, we visited Yubudo to checkout shorebirds during the afternoon high tide on Sunday, April 11th. Even at high tide, the water levels were relatively low (about 6m) which meant that the birds were rather dispersed which made it more difficult to observe them. However, thanks to 10 members of the team, we spread out across the mudflats and were able relatively close to the birds without spooking them.
An estimated 50,000 shorebirds were observed during our 3.5 hour stay with Dunlin (approx 30,000), Great Knot (approx 10,000), Grey Plover (approx 3000) and Bar-tailed Godwit (approx 2000) forming the bulk of the group.
Other shorebirds included groups of rather noisy Far Eastern Oystercatcher, Red-necked Stint (in a whole range of plumage), Kentish Plover, Eurasian Curlew and Far-Easter Curlew in moderate numbers. There were also a few Broad-billed Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Long-toed Stint, Terek Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Lesser Sand Plover and a single Red Knot (in partial breeding plumage) among a large group of Great Knot.
A group of about 100~120 Little Tern and a larger group of Saunder’s Gull kept us entertained with their acrobatic areal maneuver.
2 members of the team also came across a Short-eared Owl which showed briefly over the reeds before disappearing into vegetation.
Scanning through the scope, I also came across some flagged individuals (some of them were photographed rather poorly by putting the phone on the eye-piece). They included:
- Great Knot with yellow flag – 6
- Great Knot with green+yellow flag – 1
- Great Knot with black+green flag – 1
- Bar-tailed Godwit with orange+yellow flag – 1
Thanks to Soyoung Sung (for arranging the boat ride and bringing everyone together), Jiwone Lee, David Farr, Elizabeth Skakoon, Vivian Fu and others for joining the trip and making it such an enjoyable experience.