13 research outputs found
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A high proportion of the world population of the spoon-billed sandpiper occurs at Tiaozini, China, during the post-breeding Moult
The Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea breeds in arctic and subarctic Russia and migrates to winter on coastal mudflats in south-east Asia. Its world population is probably about 700 individuals. We report Lincoln-Petersen closed-population estimates of the number of Spoon-billed Sandpipers at Tiaozini, a coastal site in Jiangsu Province, China, based upon resightings and scan surveys of individually-marked leg-flagged birds. Surveys were conducted in September-October, when adult Spoon-billed Sandpipers are moulting their primary feathers and long-distance movements are unlikely. We estimated that 220 birds were present at Tiaozini in 2017 and 224 in 2018. Nearly all of them were adults (one-year old or older), so about 40% of the world population of this age class was estimated to be present. Hence, protection of the mudflats and roost sites at Tiaozini is of global importance for the conservation of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper.Non
Adult survival and annual movement patterns of common snipe in Iceland
The common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) is a wader that breeds in subarctic regions from Iceland to Russia, and for which global populations are in decline. We studied snipe breeding in western Iceland between 1998 and 2020, locating nests and ringing birds annually. In 2019 and 2020, we deployed geolocators on nesting adults to estimate the timing of their annual migration and the location of overwintering areas. Birds moved principally between breeding locations in Iceland to wintering areas in Ireland, although some birds may winter farther north. We also found that apparent annual adult survival averaged 66%, but was higher in years with warmer, wetter winters. Given the similarity of our survival estimates to those from snipe elsewhere, we suggest that adult survival is unlikely a major contributor to declining populations, and other factors like habitat loss may be of more concern
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Post-breeding migration of adult spoon-billed sandpipers
Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpipers Calidris pygmaea migrate from their breeding grounds in arctic and subarctic Russia along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway to winter in coastal habitats in south-east Asia. To describe the use of migration stopover and wintering sites during the post-breeding migration, we tracked six adults equipped with solar-powered Platform Transmitting Terminals (PTTs) on the breeding grounds and a further seven adults tagged at a post-breeding moulting site in Jiangsu Province, China. We identified 28 clusters of sites in all, of which nine appeared to be of special importance for refuelling for onward migration, or the post-breeding moult of flight feathers. In particular, we identified three sites in Russia that were used by tagged birds for prolonged periods of time prior to long migratory movements to the moulting grounds (Perevalochni Bay, Moroshechnaya River and Tyk Bay), three sites used during the period of flight feather moult (Rongmae Mudflat in DPRK; Tiaozini and Yangkou in Jiangsu Province, China) and three stopover sites used for long periods followed by long onward flights after the moult of flight feathers (Shanghai Chongming Donglin and Nandu Estuary, Leizhou in China and Ha Nam Island in Vietnam). In addition, wintering areas of eight tagged birds were identified, of which three were in China (Xitou Yangxi, Guankoudu Zhaoan and Xichang Hepu), one in Vietnam (Ha Nam Island), one in Myanmar (Gulf of Mottama), two in Bangladesh (Jahajja Char North and an area nearby) and one in Indonesia (Northern Sumatra). Ten of the 28 stopover and wintering sites identified have statutory protection.The work of E. Lappo was partly supported by Basic Research Program (budgetary funds), Project Number АААА-А19-119022190168-8