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 shield the surroundings, however moderately to encourage profitable mass tourism. The thought being that you simply 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 precise relations, and on this journey, one in all them acquired us onto the mudflats beneath 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 in all his colleagues – not for letting anyone in, however for letting foreigners in. Generally I ponder why I nonetheless stay right here.
So, we had been on the mudflats earlier than dawn, realizing 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 indicate up.
However we did get to see a spread of waders, each on the mudflats and later from the automobile, driving round.
Larger Sand Plovers had 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, additionally they feed on crustaceans corresponding to shrimps.
A second quite common species on the Jiangsu coast is the Pink-necked Stint – considerably shocking given its standing as Close to Threatened.
Whereas I did just a few marathons after I was a bit youthful, one Pink-necked Stint was recorded to have executed 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 moderately 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’ll know extra.
Whereas feminine Pink-necked Stints are usually not childless cat girls, they nonetheless don’t fairly match the JD Vance very best of motherhood. In response to Cornell, the females depart the chicks quickly after hatching, leaving the males to have a tendency the chicks as much as fledging.
I’m moderately keen on the Far Japanese Curlew.
eBird highlights its “exceptional scimitar-like invoice, used to extract invertebrates from deep burrows”. Certainly, the feminine Far Japanese Curlew has the longest invoice of any wader with a size of about 184 mm, in line 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 after I see them within the wild.
I puzzled whether or not there’s time period for this phenomenon however I assume there’s 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 all the time look a lot smaller to me. I want 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 notably artistic, I believe …
Aspect notice: One way or the other 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 straightforward to establish even for any individual who’s moderately 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 usually straightforward, as it’s the chook dashing to and from throughout the mudflat, or much less generally, wading in shallow water whereas scything its invoice throughout the floor.”
Payments are essential for waders (although scripting this sentence, I understand it’s on stage much like the one on “enhancing our understanding” cited above). The scientific title of the Broad-billed Sandpiper, Calidris falcinellus, presumably refers back to the little hook on the finish of the chook’s invoice – falcinellus means “with a small hook”
In its non-breeding plumage, the Black-headed Gull just isn’t 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 title Chroicocephalus ridibundus signifies that it’s laughing).
But it surely appears a lot cuter than the bigger Black-tailed Gull, which most likely no one has ever accused of laughing. In truth, it appears moderately 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 Weak. And one other moderately cute chook.
Its scientific title 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 in regards to the household that has been talked about in a few latest posts: “The Laridae are probably the most acquainted charadriiform birds of each shore. Energetic, apparent, and rarely shy, they’re typically 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’ll swallow, lifeless or alive, they usually collect their meals with an astonishing opportunism and ingenuity; terns principally eat fish that they dive for, they usually keep out of one another’s approach in free foraging aggregations.”
And naturally, terns seem like modern sports activities vehicles in comparison with the cumbersome SUVs which can be gulls. See the Widespread Tern …
… with its scientific title 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 want to see a Sanderling in its enticing breeding plumage, I solely noticed its nonbreeding look that appears to even have given the species its title Calidris alba (alba = white).
The title derives from Outdated English sand-yrðling, “sand-ploughman” (supply).
I’m not positive why, however in line 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 additionally they should put on silly hats and carry weapons (I used to be born in El Paso, so I’ve the precise to make Texas jokes).
The species title of the Gray Plover, squatarola, seems 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 title (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 want species entries devoted to Personal Fairness companions. However that’s simply the faux 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 submit:
Widespread Greenshank
Gray-headed Lapwing
Widespread Redshank
Noticed Redshank
Pied Avocet
Black-winged Stilt
Whimbrel
Transferring on to the non-shorebirds seen, these included a Lengthy-tailed Shrike feeding on one thing that regarded rather a lot just like the bird-feed equal of rooster toes to me …
… the all the time pleasant Oriental Dollarbird (surprisingly widespread round Tiaozini) …
… Widespread 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 phase …
… and much more shocking, a Shiny Ibis feeding at a rice paddy on reclaimed Tiaozini land …
… although 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 submit, you attempt to connect with the start to make the submit learn “well-rounded”, however on this case …
… it’s onerous to keep away from because the scientific title of the Shiny Ibis is Plegadis falcinellus …
… which (as you’ve got most likely forgotten by now, given how this submit meanders) can be the species title of the Broad-billed Sandpiper proven someplace above.
My subsequent submit will simply finish abruptly once more as regular, I promise.
