It’s a time-honored custom amongst Shanghai-based birders to go to some coastal locations two or three hours north of the town to unsuccessfully search for Spoon-billed Sandpipers. This quest was tough sufficient just a few years in the past however has since turn into extra irritating, as ever extra areas are blocked off – to not defend the setting, however slightly to encourage profitable mass tourism. The thought being that you simply purchase an entrance ticket after which are extraordinarily restricted in the place you possibly can go.
Nonetheless, this being China, there are methods round this – there are at all times some locals with the best relations, and on this journey, one among them acquired us onto the mudflats below the quilt of darkness, utilizing his relationship with one of many native bosses and distributing cigarettes to the guards. For which he promptly acquired criticized by one among his colleagues – not for letting anyone in, however for letting foreigners in. Generally I’m wondering why I nonetheless dwell right here.
So, we have been on the mudflats earlier than dawn, figuring out that we needed to go away 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 spread of waders, each on the mudflats and later from the automotive, driving round.
Larger 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, Larger Sand Plovers primarily feed on beetles, however on the coast, in addition they feed on crustaceans comparable to shrimps.
A second quite common species on the Jiangsu coast is the Pink-necked Stint – considerably stunning given its standing as Close to Threatened.
Whereas I did just a few marathons once I was a bit youthful, one Pink-necked Stint was recorded to have performed a 5350 km continuous flight, equal to about 127 marathon runs (supply).
A paper on the mitochondrial genome of the Pink-necked Stint ends with the slightly pointless sentence “In future, sequencing extra mitogenomes from numerous taxonomic ranges will considerably enhance our understanding of phylogeny and taxonomy in Scolopacidae.” In layman’s phrases: If we do extra analysis, we’ll know extra.
Whereas feminine Pink-necked Stints should not childless cat girls, they nonetheless don’t fairly match the JD Vance splendid of motherhood. In response to Cornell, the females go away 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 “exceptional 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 accordance with Cornell (although it appears to be like longer to me).
I suppose it’s a bit like seeing stuffed birds in museums – they at all times appear to look a lot smaller to me than once I see them within the wild.
I puzzled whether or not there may be time period for this phenomenon however I suppose there may be none. Not being artistic myself, I requested ChatGPT to be artistic for me.
Query to ChatGPT: “Once I see birds first within the wild after which as stuffed specimens in museums, the latter at all times 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 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 artistic, I feel …
Aspect observe: In some way it appears tough to get a photograph of a Far-eastern Curlew in China with out the photograph together with some plastic trash. You determine what meaning your self.
I additionally just like the Terek Sandpiper because the upturned invoice makes it simple to establish even for any person 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 simple, as it’s the hen 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 scripting this sentence, I notice it’s on stage just like the one on “bettering 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 hen’s invoice – falcinellus means “with a small hook”
In its non-breeding plumage, the Black-headed Gull shouldn’t be black-headed.
Even when breeding, its head is extra chocolate-brown than black (supply).
And customarily, I didn’t hear it chortle a lot (its scientific identify Chroicocephalus ridibundus signifies that it’s laughing).
Nevertheless it appears to be like a lot cuter than the bigger Black-tailed Gull, which most likely no one has ever accused of laughing. In truth, it appears to be like slightly sinister to me.
It has the glory of being featured in a 2011 submit 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 Susceptible. And one other slightly cute hen.
Its scientific identify Saundersilarus saundersi mentions the identical individual 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 probably the most acquainted charadriiform birds of each shore. Lively, apparent, and rarely shy, they’re generally in our lives much more than we wish.”
Cornell then distinguishes between terns and gulls: “They are often divided by what they eat: Gulls usually eat any animal they will swallow, useless or alive, they usually collect their meals with an astonishing opportunism and ingenuity; terns largely eat fish that they dive for, they usually keep out of one another’s manner in unfastened foraging aggregations.”
And naturally, terns seem like smooth sports activities vehicles in comparison with the cumbersome SUVs which are 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 virtually Groucho-Mark-cigar-like thick invoice.
A lot as I wish to see a Sanderling in its engaging 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 Previous English sand-yrðling, “sand-ploughman” (supply).
I’m not positive why, however in accordance 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%).” Most likely in addition they must put on silly hats and carry weapons (I used to be born in El Paso, so I’ve the best to make Texas jokes).
The species identify of the Gray Plover, squatarola, feels 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 truth is extra mundane and virtually meaningless – Cornell solely states that squatarola is the Venetian identify (Sgatarola) for a sort 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 nicely: Kentish Plover …
… and Little Ringed Plover.
Extra waders, once more simple to see in Shanghai and elsewhere and thus not meriting a lot consideration on this submit:
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 appeared so much just like the bird-feed equal of hen toes to me …
… the at all times pleasant Oriental Dollarbird (surprisingly frequent round Tiaozini) …
… Frequent Kingfisher (ditto – I used to be not conscious of it being so frequent on the open coast) …
… and a migrating Yellow-rumped Flycatcher.
Two extra highlights of the journey on the finish: the engaging Black-capped Kingfisher …
… proving as soon as and for all Eurasias superiority over the Americas within the kingfisher phase …
… and much more stunning, a Shiny Ibis feeding at a rice paddy on reclaimed Tiaozini land …
… regardless that the Cornell distribution map wouldn’t let it wherever close to this space.
I don’t normally do that factor the place on the finish of a submit, you strive to hook up with the start to make the submit learn “well-rounded”, however on this case …
… it’s onerous to keep away from because the scientific identify of the Shiny Ibis is Plegadis falcinellus …
… which (as you’ve most likely forgotten by now, given how this submit meanders) can be the species identify of the Broad-billed Sandpiper proven someplace above.
My subsequent submit will simply finish abruptly once more as typical, I promise.
