It’s a time-honored custom amongst Shanghai-based birders to go to some coastal locations two or three hours north of town to unsuccessfully search for Spoon-billed Sandpipers. This quest was troublesome sufficient a number of years in the past however has since develop into extra irritating, as ever extra areas are blocked off – to not shield the surroundings, however slightly to encourage profitable mass tourism. The thought being that you just purchase an entrance ticket after which are extraordinarily restricted in the place you’ll be able to go.
Nonetheless, this being China, there are methods round this – there are all the time some locals with the appropriate relations, and on this journey, one in all them bought us onto the mudflats beneath the duvet of darkness, utilizing his relationship with one of many native bosses and distributing cigarettes to the guards. For which he promptly bought criticized by one in all his colleagues – not for letting anyone in, however for letting foreigners in. Generally I ponder why I nonetheless dwell right here.
So, we have been on the mudflats earlier than dawn, understanding that we needed to depart inside 2 hours in order to not draw consideration to us. Sadly, the Spoon-billed Sandpipers apparently weren’t knowledgeable of our restrictions and failed to point out up.
However we did get to see a variety of waders, each on the mudflats and later from the automobile, driving round.
Higher Sand Plovers have been among the many best to see.
Throughout breeding season, this species is predominantly present in deserts or semi-deserts however within the non-breeding season, it behaves extra wader-like and stays on the coast.
In desert areas, Higher Sand Plovers primarily feed on beetles, however on the coast, in addition they feed on crustaceans corresponding to shrimps.
A second quite common species on the Jiangsu coast is the Crimson-necked Stint – considerably shocking given its standing as Close to Threatened.
Whereas I did a number of marathons once I was a bit youthful, one Crimson-necked Stint was recorded to have finished a 5350 km continuous flight, equal to about 127 marathon runs (supply).
A paper on the mitochondrial genome of the Crimson-necked Stint ends with the slightly pointless sentence “In future, sequencing extra mitogenomes from varied taxonomic ranges will considerably enhance our understanding of phylogeny and taxonomy in Scolopacidae.” In layman’s phrases: If we do extra analysis, we are going to know extra.
Whereas feminine Crimson-necked Stints aren’t childless cat women, they nonetheless don’t fairly match the JD Vance ideally suited of motherhood. In line with Cornell, the females depart the chicks quickly after hatching, leaving the males to have a tendency the chicks as much as fledging.
I’m slightly keen on the Far Jap Curlew.
eBird highlights its “outstanding scimitar-like invoice, used to extract invertebrates from deep burrows”. Certainly, the feminine Far Jap Curlew has the longest invoice of any wader with a size of about 184 mm, in keeping with Cornell (although it appears longer to me).
I assume it’s a bit like seeing stuffed birds in museums – they all the time appear to look a lot smaller to me than once I see them within the wild.
I questioned whether or not there may be time period for this phenomenon however I assume there may be none. Not being inventive myself, I requested ChatGPT to be inventive for me.
Query to ChatGPT: “Once I see birds first within the wild after which as stuffed specimens in museums, the latter all the time look a lot smaller to me. I wish to create a time period for this phenomenon. Are you able to counsel one?”
ChatGPT replied “How about ‘Diminished Specimen Impact’? This time period captures the concept that the stuffed specimens seem smaller than their wild counterparts, maybe as a result of lack of life and the pure context that makes them appear extra vibrant and substantial.”
Not significantly inventive, I feel …
Facet be aware: By some means it appears troublesome to get a photograph of a Far-eastern Curlew in China with out the picture together with some plastic trash. You determine what which means your self.
I additionally just like the Terek Sandpiper because the upturned invoice makes it straightforward to establish even for any individual who’s slightly wader-illiterate like me.
The person I noticed didn’t transfer a lot, so the Cornell assertion about figuring out it didn’t actually apply: “Discovering a Terek Sandpiper amongst a gaggle of foraging waders is often straightforward, as it’s the fowl dashing to and from throughout the mudflat, or much less generally, wading in shallow water whereas scything its invoice throughout the floor.”
Payments are necessary for waders (regardless that penning this sentence, I notice it’s on stage just like the one on “enhancing our understanding” cited above). The scientific identify of the Broad-billed Sandpiper, Calidris falcinellus, presumably refers back to the little hook on the finish of the fowl’s invoice – falcinellus means “with a small hook”
In its non-breeding plumage, the Black-headed Gull is just not black-headed.
Even when breeding, its head is extra chocolate-brown than black (supply).
And customarily, I didn’t hear it snigger a lot (its scientific identify Chroicocephalus ridibundus signifies that it’s laughing).
Nevertheless it appears a lot cuter than the bigger Black-tailed Gull, which in all probability no one has ever accused of laughing. In reality, it appears slightly sinister to me.
It has the distinction of being featured in a 2011 publish on 10,000 Birds. Redgannet, when will you begin writing posts once more?
The third gull I noticed was a Saunder’s Gull, a species listed as Weak. And one other slightly cute fowl.
Its scientific identify Saundersilarus saundersi mentions the identical particular person twice – Howard Saunders (1835-1907), a British banker, traveller, and ornithologist with particular experience in gulls.
Gulls are within the Laridae household, as are terns. Cornells hints at one thing concerning the household that has been talked about in a few latest posts: “The Laridae are essentially the most acquainted charadriiform birds of each shore. Lively, apparent, and rarely shy, they’re generally in our lives much more than we want.”
Cornell then distinguishes between terns and gulls: “They are often divided by what they eat: Gulls usually eat any animal they’ll swallow, useless or alive, and so they collect their meals with an astonishing opportunism and ingenuity; terns principally eat fish that they dive for, and so they keep out of one another’s approach in free foraging aggregations.”
And naturally, terns appear like smooth sports activities vehicles in comparison with the cumbersome SUVs which can be gulls. See the Frequent Tern …
… with its scientific identify Sterna hirundo additionally highlighting the sleekness and magnificence, as hirundo means “swallow” …
… and the Gull-billed Tern with its nearly Groucho-Mark-cigar-like thick invoice.
A lot as I wish to see a Sanderling in its enticing breeding plumage, I solely noticed its nonbreeding look that appears to even have given the species its identify Calidris alba (alba = white).
The identify derives from Outdated English sand-yrðling, “sand-ploughman” (supply).
I’m not positive why, however in keeping with Cornell, Sanderlings in Texas spend extra time on feeding than elsewhere: “Sanderlings in Texas spent extra time feeding (85%) than did these in New Jersey (50%), Panama (40%), and Peru (36%).” In all probability in addition they need to put on silly hats and carry weapons (I used to be born in El Paso, so I’ve the appropriate to make Texas jokes).
The species identify of the Gray Plover, squatarola, appears like a reputation a Personal Fairness firm would give to a newly acquired Italian maker of high-end backyard furnishings, together with the declare that “gardening has by no means been this unique”.
The fact is extra mundane and virtually meaningless – Cornell solely states that squatarola is the Venetian identify (Sgatarola) for a type of plover.
Cornell additionally confuses a bit with the next announcement on the species account of the Gray Plover: “This species account is devoted in honor of Philip Edmundson, member of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Administrative Board”. I’m not positive we’d like species entries devoted to Personal Fairness companions. However that’s simply the pretend socialist me talking.
Different plovers, simply seen in Shanghai as effectively: Kentish Plover …
… and Little Ringed Plover.
Extra waders, once more straightforward to see in Shanghai and elsewhere and thus not meriting a lot consideration on this publish:
Frequent Greenshank
Gray-headed Lapwing
Frequent Redshank
Noticed Redshank
Pied Avocet
Black-winged Stilt
Whimbrel
Shifting on to the non-shorebirds seen, these included a Lengthy-tailed Shrike feeding on one thing that seemed loads just like the bird-feed equal of rooster toes to me …
… the all the time pleasant Oriental Dollarbird (surprisingly widespread round Tiaozini) …
… Frequent Kingfisher (ditto – I used to be not conscious of it being so widespread on the open coast) …
… and a migrating Yellow-rumped Flycatcher.
Two extra highlights of the journey on the finish: the enticing Black-capped Kingfisher …
… proving as soon as and for all Eurasias superiority over the Americas within the kingfisher section …
… and much more shocking, a Shiny Ibis feeding at a rice paddy on reclaimed Tiaozini land …
… regardless that the Cornell distribution map wouldn’t let it anyplace close to this space.
I don’t normally do that factor the place on the finish of a publish, you attempt to connect with the start to make the publish learn “well-rounded”, however on this case …
… it’s arduous to keep away from because the scientific identify of the Shiny Ibis is Plegadis falcinellus …
… which (as you’ve got in all probability forgotten by now, given how this publish meanders) can be the species identify of the Broad-billed Sandpiper proven someplace above.
My subsequent publish will simply finish abruptly once more as common, I promise.
Autor Kai Pflug
