By mid-May our satellite tagged shorebirds are now settled in various
stop-over sites, fuelling up and getting ready for their next move.
Satellite tagged
Whimbrel 2017:
All our Whimbrels are now at inland sites in
northern China.
JX was the first bird to reach northern China
on 11-May-18 after spending 2 weeks at 3 sites in southern China. It has
surprisingly skipped the northern Yellow Sea area and flew >1,500km directly from Jiangsu
Province to Heilongjiang Province. After arriving in Heilongjiang
Province, JX first headed to a site in Songhua River just 40km east of Harbin
city. It then moved to another site further north near Qing’an on 13-May-18 and
has been staying there since then.
Fig 1: JX’s flight
from Jiangsu to Heilongjiang
KU once again
demonstrates the term “site fidelity” perfectly. After stop-over in Xinghua
Bay, Fujian Province for a week, it departed on 9-May-18 and made a 1,700km
flight to arrive at the same site in Panjin, Liaoning Province as last season! It
is amazing to see KU using a similar migration route and stop-over sites as 2017. A comparison of KU’s northward migration in 2017 and 2018 is shown
below:
Table 1: A comparison
of KU’s northward migration in 2017 and 2018
2017
|
2018
|
|
Departure date from Australia
|
17-Apr
|
22-Apr
|
Arrival date at Southern China
|
23-Apr
|
26-Apr
|
No. of days in Southern China
|
11 (Fujian)
|
4 (Guangdong) + 7
(Fujian)
|
Departure date from Southern China
|
4-May
|
9 May
|
Arrival date at Liaoning Province
|
8-May
|
13-May
|
No. of days in Liaoning Province
|
11
|
?
|
Departure date from Liaoning Province
|
19-May
|
?
|
Fig 2: KU’s northward migration track in 2017
and 2018.
The rice field area
around Panjin, Liaoning Province seems to be a popular site for our Whimbrels.
On 13-May-18, after staying in Jiangsu Province for a week, LA also made a
migration to Panjin! Last season, this area was used by both Whimbrels which
migrated to the breeding ground (KU and KS).
Fig 3: Area used by
Whimbrels around Panjin in 2017 and 2018
As per last year's record, the Whimbrels are expected to cross the China-Russia boundary in the
coming week!
Photo1: Rice field in
Panjin area (Photo by David LI)
As of 19-May-18:
Migration tracks of our Whimbrels:
Migration summary on our Whimbrels
Leg Flag
(track colour)
|
No. of days since transmitter deployment
|
No. of days since departing Australia
|
Distance travelled
|
LA (blue)
|
461 days
|
25 days
|
6,782 km
|
KU (yellow)
|
449 days
|
27 days
|
6,679 km
|
JX (pink)
|
420 days
|
36 days
|
7,531 km
|
Satellite tagged Grey-tailed
Tattler 2018:
Compared to the
Whimbrels, our Grey-tailed Tattlers are still far from the breeding ground.
Over the past week,
LDN and LDU remained at their stop-over sites in Southern China and North
Vietnam. Both areas are estuarine intertidal mudflat.
Fig 4: LDN and LDU’s location in Southern China and
North Vietnam
Unfortunately, the transmitter on LBZ has
ceased on 4-May-18, 3 days after it arrived in the Philippines. The other 2
Tattlers which stop-over in the Philippines departed a week ago and arrived in
Southern China on 15-May-18. LBU and LBX both stayed in the Philippines for 7
days and made a move on 12-May-18. They arrived in Zhejiang and Fujian Province
respectively, both using coastal mudflat.
Fig 5: LBU and LBX
migration from Philippines to Southern China
As of 19-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)
|
92 days
|
17 days
|
5,170 km
|
LBX (white)
|
24 days
|
5,284 km
|
|
LDN (orange)
|
24 days
|
4,789 km
|
|
LDU (blue)
|
21 days
|
4,874 km
|
|
LBZ (red)
|
77 days (transmission ceased on 4-May)
|
3,497km
|
|
Katherine Leung
19 May 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment