{"id":19477,"date":"2017-05-12T14:21:40","date_gmt":"2017-05-12T05:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=19477"},"modified":"2017-05-12T14:27:03","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T05:27:03","slug":"geum-estuary-may-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=19477","title":{"rendered":"Geum Estuary, May 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bird News from Nial Moores with Xavier Vandervyre and Francois.<\/p>\n

Best for the day were excellent and prolonged views of several of the six Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper<\/strong> seen (with four full breeding-plumaged adults and a Second Calendar-year together; and a more weakly plumaged bird \u2013 either a well-developed Second Calendar-year or a poorly-developed adult type, seen separately at some distance). None of the five birds seen well had any leg-bands.<\/p>\n

\"rs-spoony--DSC05098\"<\/p>\n

\"rs-spoonie-DSC05148\"<\/p>\n

\"rs-spoonyandredneckedstint-DSC05058\"Breeding-plumaged adult Spoon-billed Sandpiper<\/strong> Eurynorhynchus pygmeus<\/em>, with breeding-plumaged Red-necked Stint<\/strong>\u00a0Calidris ruficollis<\/i> (bottom image) \u00a9 Nial Moores. Spoonies are a little larger and rather bigger-headed than Red-necks, and often lift-and-run rather than shuffle when feeding. At this time of year too, they also tend to look rather darker, with e.g. more dark centres on the crown and dried-blood tones instead of orange. This helps to accentuate plumage contrasts, so that even at range the mantle braces, the blotchy spotting on the breast-sides and the white donut around the bill base often stand out more than on Red-necked Stint<\/strong>.
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In total, 25 shorebird species were seen in the Geum, with c. 40,000 individuals on Yubu and 10,000+ below the estuarine barrage – including at least 575 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper<\/strong>, a healthy count of a much-decreased species.<\/p>\n

\"rs-tideline-DSC05290\"Rich colours of the tundra along the tide-line \u00a9 Nial Moores. How many species of shorebird can you see?<\/p>\n

As expected at this site, we encountered an array of globally threatened Yellow Sea-dependent species including ~10,000 breeding-plumaged Great Knot<\/strong>, several hundred Far Eastern Curlew<\/strong>, two Nordmann\u2019s Greenshank<\/strong>, three Black-faced Spoonbill<\/strong>, one Chinese Egret<\/strong> and 35 Saunders\u2019s Gull<\/strong>.\u00a0 Other species of note in the estuary included good numbers of Red-necked Stint<\/strong> (perhaps 3,000 in total), several dozen Broad-billed Sandpiper<\/strong>, and single singing Forest Wagtail<\/strong>, Arctic<\/strong> and Black-browed Reed Warblers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In the evening, a visit to an area of river near Jeonju then found adult and juvenile Japanese Wagtail<\/strong> and single singing Ruddy Kingfisher<\/strong>, Indian Cuckoo<\/strong> and Oriental Scops Owl<\/strong> (heard only).<\/p>\n

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