About 2 weeks ago
when we were all expecting KS to be back home to Broome soon, it again
surprised us with another detour.
On 12-Sep, after
flying 6 days non-stop from North Korea for nearly 4,900km, KS suddenly made a
north-east turn before heading offshore from South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Within
6 hours, KS again travelled at its maximum speed of 55km/h for 330km to arrive
at a reef area in South East Sulawesi.
 |
Fig 1: KS’s sudden
twist in direction at Sulawesi
|
Since mid-night of
13-Sep, KS has now stayed in South East Sulawesi for 13 days. Besides the
beautiful coral reef and sandy beaches, it is also apparently using farmland
again. According to weather charts, there haven’t been any days with southerly
winds blowing in the past 13 days. We hope KS has now been replenished with
energy and ready to head back to Broome at any moment.
 |
Fig 2: Local
movement of KS in South East Sulawesi
|
Let’s not forget KU,
the other successful runner returning from the breeding ground, it has stayed at
Yingkou, Liaoning Province for 50 days! This is the longest period of stop-over
among our two Whimbrels (KS and KU) which made it to the breeding ground.
Comparing to the northward migration race to the breeding ground, maybe KU is
really at no hurry at all for its journey home. In Yingkou, KU ustilises both
aquaculture ponds and intertidal mudflat.
 |
Fig 3. KU’s
movement at Yingkou, Liaoning Province
|
On the other hand,
we are still receiving regular signals from JX and LA from Broome and Eighty
Mile Beach.
 |
Migration tracks of our Whimbrels:
|
 |
Migration summary on our Whimbrels
|
Katherine Leung
25 September 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment