ajohn

Thanks all for continuing to send sightings (especially Richard, who seems to be picking up a good number of birds).

We have recently received news of a Common Redshank with HK flags 'V1' sighted at Wonorejo wetlands, Surabaya, Indonesia on 20th August 2013. This bird was flagged at Mai Po on 27th April 2013 and resighted at Mai Po on 25th July. Surprisingly, despite being the second most commonly flagged shorebird in Hong Kong, this is our first overseas resighting of a flagged Common Redshank (there have been previous records of ringed birds retrapped/hunted overseas in the 1990s) so it adds some useful information to our knowledge of this species.

ajohn

Note that the A4 shown in Frankie's photo is a Marsh Sandpiper, rather than a Greenshank. Could somebody please confirm whether Greenshank A4 was also present on 3rd (it would be the first sighting since March 2012).
There are several Marsh Sandpipers reported on that date which are the first sightings back in HK for this winter.

The other Greenshank is E7 rather than F7. We actually don't usually use F in the flag combinations, to avoid this confusion.

ajohn

Thanks Richard

K0 is a knock-out - the only previous resighting was 15 Nov 2012, so either it was not seen all winter last year, or it is only passing through HK to winter further south.
S6 is another good sighting - it was last seen in April on the coast of Hebei.

There seems to have been a small influx of Grey Plover over the last week or two, with several flagged birds present. We had something similar in the same week last year, with a second influx in the first week of December.

ajohn

This is great. We get incredibly few resightings of flagged Wood Sandpipers, especially with engraved flags. In fact, of 18 birds flagged with engraved flags, this is only the 7th resighting. It is also the first time M7 has been seen it was flagged on 1st September 2011!

I think one problem with Wood Sandpipers is that the flags seem to get very muddy and discoloured, and it is difficult to read the engraving. Congratulations on getting a photo that makes it possible to be sure that this is M7. Another problem is likely to be that they do not stay at Mai Po (where more people look for flags) but move on to other freshwater wetlands in Hong Kong or beyond.

ajohn

Thank you for reporting these Richard.
The Broad-billed Sand is particularly interesting - only three have been flagged using engraved flags, and this is the first resighting. J8 was flagged on 3rd April 2011, almost exactly three years before your sighting!
The Terek J0 was present from 1st-12th April 2013. This bird was flagged on 18th April 2011.
This similarity in migration arrival is something that can be observed in several species.

Terek L9 is different though - this bird was flagged in autumn, on 1st September 2011, and has only been seen once since - on 6th September 2011.

The Curlew sightings reflect that this species seems to be later migrating north this year compared to previous years.

ajohn

Thanks Richard
As you may realise, the birds reported with a single yellow flag are not flagged in Hong Kong, but have come from northwest Australia (most likely from Broome or 80 Mile Beach). It would be worth reporting these in the other thread for overseas leg flags.

ajohn

Thank you all for continuing to post resightings. You may be interested in a thread I have started giving a brief summary of some of the results from the Engraved Leg Flags: http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/view ... a=page%3D1#pid71265

The success of this work depends on continuing to receive as many resightings as possible of flagged birds, so please do continue to report any birds that you see with engraved leg flags. All observations are contributing to our understanding of shorebird migration through Hong Kong and elsewhere on the flyway.

ajohn

The Great Knot is L3, returning for it's 5th successive winter in Deep Bay. I'm pleased you got the flag - I saw the bird today but the flag was facing away from me.

ajohn

You may be interested to know that we have recently received a report of a Terek Sandpiper with a Hong Kong flag resighted in Russia.
T2 was flagged at Mai Po on 18th April 2015, and was resighted 35 days later on 23rd May at Petrova Bay, Lazovskiy NR, Primorskiy Kray, Russian Federation (close to Vladivoostok). This is a distance of about 2590km from Mai Po.

This is the first time we have had a flag resighting from Russia (although some ringed birds have been reported there in the past).

ajohn

Quote:

Original posted by John Holmes at 10/05/2016 16:59
Mai Po Boardwalk - 10th May 2016   Curlew Sandpiper "CC"

Curlew Sandpiper CC is a very interesting bird. We trapped and flagged this bird at Mai Po on 6th May 2016, only four days before this sighting. But the bird was already carrying a metal ring, having been previously trapped in Malaysia. From the number on the ring we have been able to trace this as a bird that was ringed at Kapar Power Station, Kuala Lumpur, on 23rd March 2016, 44 days before it was recaptured at Mai Po. This is our first ever recovery of a bird ringed in Malaysia. We added the flag in the hope that we will get more information about the migration of this bird, which can be shared not only in Hong Kong but also with the Malaysian ringing scheme.