ajohn

Thanks for these resightings. It is nice to see the Black-tailed Godwits back outside the boardwalk hides this weekend (they seem not to have been around for the last couple of months), including a few flags. The tides have been much better for seeing the flags over the last few weeks, compared to November/December.

fkkc: your first bird (A9) is a Common Redshank, and your second (D1) is a Marsh Sandpiper.
Common Redshank A9 was one of the very first birds with engraved flags in Hong Kong - trapped and flagged on 26 August 2010 and not seen since September 2010!
Common Greenshank A5 (the first of Ho fai's photos) is almost as old - flagged on 8 Septemerb 2010 - but has been seen much more regularly.

[ Last edited by ajohn at 13/02/2012 09:31 ]

ajohn

Steve,
A 2-flagged godwit would typically have both flags on the tibia and this is the procedure in HK. It is therefore unlikely that the bird you saw had a Hong Kong (white over yellow) combination. A single white flag should indicate that the bird is from New Zealand. You mention that numbers were not visible - does this mean that numbers were present but unreadable or that the flag was plain?

The black over white combination on the Great Knot indicates a bird flagged at Chongming Dao (near Shanghai).

Check this website (http://www.eaaflyway.net/documen ... ebird_flag_2011.pdf) for details of the flagging protocol along the flyway, and be sure to report your observations ( the best e-mail address to use is probably: mintons @ ozemail.com.au).