At the beginning of this week it was exciting to see that all of our eight
satellite tagged shorebirds from North-west Australia had made it to the
northern hemisphere. They are now all at
their 1st/2nd stop-over site, fuelling up, and preparing to make their next leg of
the journey.
Satellite tagged
Whimbrel 2017:
All three Whimbrels have now landed in
southern China.
The first departing Whimbrel JX made its
first landing at Guangdong Province on 20-Apr-18 (5-7 days after it departed
from Broome). It then applied a “hopping” strategy, making short stops for 4
days each in Guangdong and Zhejiang Province and now staying on mudflats in southern Jiangsu Province.
Fig 1: JX’s hopping
along southern China coast
The second Whimbrel KU
departed about 10 days after JX. KU was our “home runner” who made it all the way
to the breeding ground and back to Australia last season. This year KU departed 5 days later than last year on 22-Apr-18. Similar to the previous year it made a
direct long-haul flight to reach southern China as its first stop. However,
this time it landed in Guangdong Province rather than Fujian Province where it
first stopped-over last year.
Table 1: A comparison
of KU’s first flight in 2017 and 2018
2017
|
2018
|
|
Departure date
|
17-Apr
|
22-Apr
|
Distance travelled in first flight
|
4,814km
|
4,610km
|
First landing location
|
Xinghua Bay, Fujian
Province
|
Shantou, Guangdong
Province
|
Arrival date
|
23-Apr
|
26-Apr
|
Average speed
|
33.4km/h
|
48.0km/h
|
However, KU didn’t
stay for long in its first landing location. Four days later on 30-Apr-18, it migrated
north again for 350km and stopped precisely at Xinghua Bay, Fujian Province,
the site where it used as its first stop-over site in 2017!
On 26-Apr morning
before KU landed on China, it’s flight direction was drifted to the east for
nearly 700km. This detour might have caused KU to landed in Guangdong Province
rather than its “planned” location in Fujian Province. It would be really
interesting to see if KU will use the same stop-over sites as last season as it
migrates further on!
Fig 2: KU’s migration
track to southern China.
After spending the
non-breeding season in Eighty Mile Beach during its first and second years of life, Whimbrel
LA made the first northward migration in its life this year. It departed Australia rather late on 24-Apr-18 and made a direct flight of 4,980km to
land in Fujian Province. The area in which LA stopped-over is in the same bay, just
25km further south, to the area that KU has been using. How does LA know that site is
suitable for Whimbrels?! Four days later, LA moved on to reach Jiangsu Province
and has been using area of both mudflats and aquaculture ponds.
Fig 3: LA’s migration
along China coast
Despite its late
departure, LA is now the northern-most Whimbrel among the three. Will it also
be the first bird to reach breeding ground?
Fig 4: JX, KU and LA’s
current location along the China coast
As of 10-May-18:
Migration tracks of our Whimbrels:
Migration summary of our Whimbrels
Leg Flag
(track colour)
|
No. of days since transmitter deployment
|
No. of days since departing Australia
|
Distance travelled
|
LA (blue)
|
452 days
|
16 days
|
5,869 km
|
KU (yellow)
|
440 days
|
18 days
|
4,962 km
|
JX (pink)
|
411 days
|
27 days
|
5,885 km
|
Satellite tagged Grey-tailed
Tattler 2018:
Between 25-Apr and
2-May, the five satellite tagged Grey-tailed Tattlers at Eighty Mile Beach have
also started their migration.
LBX and LDN were the
first two to depart on 25-Apr evening. Rather than making a direct long-haul
flight to the Northern hemisphere, they both decided to make a stop in Borneo.
LBX stopped for 5 days at the east coast of Borneo in North Kalimantan, a site
which was also popular for Great Knot and Red Knot as per previous satellite
tracking data. LDN landed on the west coast of Borneo on the Malaysian side
near the town Bintulu and stayed for 8 days.
Fig 5: LBX and LDN’s
stop-over at Borneo
LDN then moved on migrating north to reach
Guangxi Province in China on 8-May-18 and is currently just less than 140km
from the forth departing Tattler LDU. LDU departed Australia on 28-Apr-18
evening and made a direct 5-day flight to reach Leizhou Peninsular in Guangdong
Province. After stopping for a day, it flew west and crossed the China-Vietnam
boarder.
Fig 6: LDN and LDU’s location in Southern
China and North Vietnam
Similar to LDU, the remaining two Tattlers,
LBZ and LBU also made a direct flight to their first stop-over site in the
Philippines. They departed 26-Apr-18 and 2-May-18 respectively and spent 3-4
days flight over 3,200km to reach the Philippines. They were joined by LBX
after its stop-over in east Borneo.
Fig 7: Location of LBZ, LBU and LBX in the
Philippines
As of 10-May-18:
Migration tracks of our Grey-tailed Tattlers:
Migration summary on our Grey-tailed Tattlers
Leg Flag
(track colour)
|
No. of days since transmitter deployment
|
No. of days since departing Australia
|
Distance travelled
|
LBU (green)
|
83 days
|
8 days
|
3,290 km
|
LBX (white)
|
15 days
|
3,324 km
|
|
LBZ (red)
|
14 days
|
3,497 km
|
|
LDN (orange)
|
15 days
|
4,789 km
|
|
LDU (blue)
|
12 days
|
4,874 km
|
Katherine Leung
10 May 2018
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