{"id":18055,"date":"2016-05-14T17:49:17","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T08:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=18055"},"modified":"2016-05-14T17:49:17","modified_gmt":"2016-05-14T08:49:17","slug":"nakdong-estuary-may-6th-and-geum-estuary-may-7th-9th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=18055","title":{"rendered":"Nakdong Estuary (May 6th) and Geum Estuary (May 7th-9th)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bird News from Nial Moores<\/p>\n

Between May 6th<\/sup> and 9th<\/sup> I conducted a \u00a0second round of shorebird counts as part of a regional project on the Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper led by the wonderful SBS in China, funded by the National Geographic Air and Water Conservation Fund<\/a> (China).\u00a0 The survey provided many reasons (tens of thousands of them in fact!) to be out birding in Korea – and to conserve remaining tidal-flats.<\/p>\n

At the Nakdong Estuary on May 6th<\/sup>, however, although I recorded 21 species of shorebird the number of birds was again remarkably low, with between only 941 and 1,110 shorebirds in total. Although I might have missed some, this total compares with a count of 5,354 shorebirds I made here on May 14th<\/sup> 1998 and of 2,525 by a team of us on May 13th<\/sup> 2008 – an apparent more than halving in number per decade.\u00a0 The species of most note was a Pied Avocet<\/strong> \u2013 although (noted with quite some despondency) even this was injured. Also present were 300+ Common Tern<\/strong> and about 150 Little Tern<\/strong> (a species that has also undergone a catastrophic decline here, following \u201cclean-up\u201d efforts of the breeding islands undertaken by Busan city during the past few summers).<\/p>\n

\"2rs-avocet\"<\/a>Pied Avocet<\/strong> Recurvirostra avosetta<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

Fortunately, conditions were much better at the Geum Estuary with probably 50-60,000 shorebirds present in total below the barrage and on Yubu Island.\u00a0 This compares with an estimate during northward migration of 66,700 in the whole Geum Estuary between 1997-2001 (made by Dr Yi Jeon-Yeong and the Ministry of Environment, before the importance of Yubu was properly realised) and of 97,670 counted here by the SSMP team<\/a> in the whole estuary with large survey teams on May 6th 2008.<\/p>\n

Among 28 species of shorebird at Yubu on May 8th, most numerous were Dunlin<\/strong> (15,000-16,000), Great Knot<\/strong> (4,500-5,000), Bar-tailed Godwit<\/strong> (2,500) and Far Eastern Curlew<\/strong> (2,100).<\/p>\n

\"2rsyubuatdawn-DSC02777\"<\/a>Yubu at dawn \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

\"2rs-Dunlin-02955\"<\/a>Dunlin<\/strong>\u00a0Calidris alpina<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

\"2rs-GreatKnot_DSC02990\"<\/a>Great Knot<\/strong>\u00a0Calidris tenuirostris<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

\"rs-Barwit_DSC02645\"<\/a>Bar-tailed Godwit<\/strong> Limosa lapponica <\/em>\u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

There was also alot of additional enjoyment to be had from close encounters with e.g. breeding-plumaged Mongolian Plover<\/strong> (750-900 – almost only at high tide), Broad-billed Sandpiper <\/strong>(c. 130), Sanderling <\/strong>(400-450) and Red-necked Stint <\/strong>(150-200).<\/p>\n

\"2rs-sanderlinghuddleC02841\"<\/a>Sanderling<\/strong>\u00a0Calidris alba<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

\"2rs-lonelyRed-neckedstintDSC02962\"<\/a>Red-necked Stint<\/strong> Calidris ruficollis<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

Standout highlights at Yubu were six<\/a> Spoon-billed Sandpiper<\/strong> (including Lime-green “01”) and 4+ Nordmann\u2019s Greenshank<\/strong>, \u00a0a single Little Stint<\/strong>, half-a-dozen Black-faced Spoonbill<\/strong> and Saunders\u2019s Gulls<\/strong> and two Chinese Egret<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"2rs-01-DSC03436\"<\/a>Spoon-billed Sandpiper<\/strong> Eurynorhynchus pygmeus<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores. This particular individual has featured in media in several countries, including an online news article <\/a>in China on May 11th this year!<\/p>\n

\"2rs-nodshankDSC02822\"<\/a>Nordmann’s Greenshank<\/strong> Tringa guttifer<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

Several other flagged birds were seen, including a Ruddy Turnstone <\/strong>and landbird interest was provided by a Red Turtle Dove<\/strong> and e.g. 20+ Eye-browed Thrush<\/strong> and a Pechora Pipit<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"rs-flaggedruddyturnstoneelfDSC03013\"<\/a>Flagged Ruddy Turnstone<\/strong> Arenaria interpres<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

Below the barrage, there were at least 32,000 shorebirds on the 9th<\/sup>, including 21,000 Dunlin<\/strong>, 4,500 Red-necked Stint<\/strong>, 2,500 Terek Sandpiper<\/strong>, 1,100-1,300 Grey Plover<\/strong> and 800-1,000 Mongolian Plover <\/strong>(with most flying down river at high tide, presumably to Yubu…).<\/p>\n

Viewing conditions were excellent \u2013 with prolonged close encounters and a wonderful diversity of birds including several hundred Black-tailed Godwit<\/strong> and what appeared, based on yet another excellent ID article on the Dig Deep website<\/a> to be two subspecies (ussuriensis <\/em>and terrignotae<\/em>) or even perhaps three subspecies of Common Redshank<\/strong> as well as a single breeding-plumaged Spotted Redshank<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"rs-mongolianploverDSC03572\"<\/a>Mongolian Plover<\/strong> Charadrius mongolus<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

\"2rs-blackwitDSC03777\"<\/a>Black-tailed Godwit<\/strong> Limosa limosa<\/em> melanuroides<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

\"2rs-commonred1DSC03658\"<\/a>Common Redshank<\/strong>\u00a0Tringa totanus<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores. Perhaps of subspecies ussuriensis <\/em>(?) based on brown\u00a0 tones to the upperparts, heavy mantle markings and strong tertial markings).<\/p>\n

\"2rs-terrignotaeDSC04006\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2rs-commonredshankDSC03999\"<\/a>Common Redshank<\/strong> Tringa totanus<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores. Perhaps of subspecies terrignotae<\/em> (?) based on warmth of upperpart brown; lightly marked mantle; and less strongly barred tertials.<\/p>\n

\"2rs-spotred_-DSC03901\"<\/a>Spotted Redshank<\/strong>\u00a0Tringa erythropus<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With thanks again to SBS in China and the Nat Geo Fund for supporting this essential survey work (for details of a May 23rd Nat Geo Young Explorers Grants’ seminar to be held at Ehwa University, please see [NGS Asia] Young Explorers Grants Seminar at Ewha Univ May 23 2016_Program<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks too to Swarovski Optik for providing the use of some truly superb optics<\/a>; and to Seocheon County for supporting conservation of the Geum Estuary. Again, good luck to all the participants at next week\u2019s meeting there!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bird News from Nial Moores Between May 6th and 9th I conducted a \u00a0second round of shorebird counts as part of a regional project on the Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper led by the wonderful SBS in China, funded by the … read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":18045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,43,842],"class_list":["post-18055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-sightings","tag-geum","tag-spoon-billed-sandpiper","tag-yubu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18055"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18069,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18055\/revisions\/18069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}