January 2013. Four Spoon-billed Sandpipers were found at Fucheng, near Leizhou,
south-west Guangdong Province in December 2012. Together with several other
recent sightings this record indicates that Spoon-billed Sandpiper is a more
widespread wintering species on the coast of southern China than was previously
known. However, evidence was found of large-scale trapping of shorebirds and
action is needed to address this threat.
The discovery was made by Jonathan Martinez and
Richard Lewthwaite of Hong Kong Bird Watching Society during a project to
investigate the winter distribution of Spoon-billed Sandpiper in southern
China. They surveyed nine sites in south-west Guangdong and found the group of
Spoon-billed Sandpipers in a large area of drained-down fishponds at Fucheng.
This site is close to Zhanjiang, where the French ornithologist Pierre
Jabouille described Spoon-billed Sandpiper as fairly numerous in winter in the
1930s, and where Professor Fasheng Zou of the South China Institute of
Endangered Animals recorded three Spoon-billed Sandpipers in March 2003.
China sightings
Since 2005, there have been sightings of Spoon-billed Sandpiper during the winter months at several other sites in southern China, indicating that this is a more important wintering area for the species than was previously known. The northernmost wintering location is the Minjiang Estuary in Fujian, where a flock of Spoon-billed Sandpipers has regularly been present in recent winters. There have also been sightings of up to three birds at Xitao in south-west Guangdong, Mai Po in Hong Kong, Fangcheng and QinzhouBay in Guangxi and the Changhua Estuary in Hainan. The on-going project will carry out further surveys in Fujian, Guangxi and Hainan and will hopefully locate some more wintering Spoon-billed Sandpipers.
Since 2005, there have been sightings of Spoon-billed Sandpiper during the winter months at several other sites in southern China, indicating that this is a more important wintering area for the species than was previously known. The northernmost wintering location is the Minjiang Estuary in Fujian, where a flock of Spoon-billed Sandpipers has regularly been present in recent winters. There have also been sightings of up to three birds at Xitao in south-west Guangdong, Mai Po in Hong Kong, Fangcheng and QinzhouBay in Guangxi and the Changhua Estuary in Hainan. The on-going project will carry out further surveys in Fujian, Guangxi and Hainan and will hopefully locate some more wintering Spoon-billed Sandpipers.
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