Birds connect: countries, sites and people!

A personal note by Andreas Kim

Wrybill Anarhynchus frontalis © AK

For our winter vacation trip (Jan-Feb) we visited the far southern end of our East Asian-Australasian Flyway: New Zealand. Because of the personal connection from my research work on leg-flagged shorebirds we stayed quite a long time at the Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre at the Firth of Thames [EAAF019]. This site is well-known for supporting large numbers of Bar-tailed Godwit as well as about 40% of the world population of the NZ endemic Wrybill. During our time there Bar-tailed Godwit, Red Knot were present in large numbers, Pacific Golden Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Curlew Sandpiper in small numbers. Excitement among birders was caused by the record of 2 Far-eastern Curlew, one Whimbrel and one Little Whimbrel on one day; all very rare visitors in that region. In addition, Pied Stilt (Black-winged Stilt as we call them here) were very numerous. South Island Pied Oystercatcher and of course Wrybill and small numbers of Variable Oystercatcher, Banded Dotterel and Spur-winged Plover shared the shell banks and mudflat. See http://www.miranda-shorebird.org.nz/ for details.

Shorebirds on the mud and in the air © AK

At this time of the year the shorebird center and the mudflat are very busy places – visitors from all over the world visit to see spectacle the birds provide. At the bird-hide at the tidal-flat we met people from England, Finland, Germany, Austria, South Africa, Australia, Canada, USA, Japan, Korea, and of course also New Zealand. But most numerous were the visitors from China. Many explained that they came to Miranda because they wanted to see where the birds are coming from that they had seen at their tidal-flats at home. Birds connect countries!

In fact, this was also one reason to visit Miranda; to try to see some of the leg flagged birds that I have seen in Korea over the years. Finding birds with bands and flags in this big flock is rather easy, there are just many running around; over 150 were recorded during the stay. But reading the flag’s engravings is a very different story. For this the conditions at Miranda are rather difficult at this time of the year: The mud is very soft and so the birds stay close to the shell bank at quite some distance and when the tide runs in, they move to ponds close by where they then stay very packed, which makes looking for leg-flags even harder. Also the high temperatures of up to 30°C makes the air shimmering and focus on the small leg-flags very challenging. Nevertheless I managed to see three different individuals that I had seen on Aphae Island in Korea before; a truly special experience to see the same birds at two places so far apart in the flyway. Birds connect: countries and sites!


Bar-tailed Godwit with white leg-flag code BVB seen in Korea and New Zealand © AK

On February 14 the shorebird center hosted a special event for me to give a presentation on shorebirds and their sites in the Republic of Korea. In this presentation I gave details on the two sites I monitor in the south-west of the ROK: the Mokpo Namhang Urban Wetland and Aphae Island which is just west of Mokpo. For several years I have seen on Aphae Island a leg-flagged Bar-tailed Godwit that was originally banded in Victoria Australia (orange AU) but which winters now in New Zealand at the Omaha Sandspit, where it is regularly seen by Marie Ward. It was special to meet Marie on that day, as she had seen “our” bird just two days earlier.

Top: Bar-tailed Godwit “orange AU” © AK
bottom: Marie Ward and Andreas Kim pointing at their sites where they see “AU” © Adrian Riegen (Miranda)

Birds connect: countries, sites and people!

 

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