Friday, April 16, 2010

Another Flagged Bird

I went for a walk out at Inskip Point yesterday at low tide. It was a very low tide so there was an extra amount of sand exposed going out to the sand island. There were very few shorebirds out there - most will by now be migrating northwards. I saw a couple of Godwits, a number of Double-banded Plovers and 3 Red-necked Stints. I was watching the Stints when I saw a flash of white on the leg of one of them. Then I had to get closer and try to get some clear photos. It appears that there is a black flag over a white flag and on the other leg a metal band. The color of the flags shows that this bird was flagged in China. I don't know about the band on the other leg. One of the other Stints had a good amount of breeding plumage and the other one showed very little. I don't know if these are stragglers on their northern migration or if they will stay here for the winter. I have been very lucky this year as this is the third flagged bird I have sighted. (These are very small photos as it's impossible to get close to the birds when they are feeding out on the flats!)
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9 comments:

  1. MosuraApril 16, 2010 at 9:21 AM

    Nice find. Is their a web site or something where you can find out what the flags mean?

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  2. mickApril 16, 2010 at 10:40 AM

    Hi Mosura,the QWSG quarterly publication/newsletter publishes a list each quarter of what flags have been seen and by whom. They list the colors. It seems to get more complicated each time I read it. Danny Rogers put a posting on Birding-Aus some time ago http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/birding-aus/1998-06/msg00077.html
    Apart from that we have been told via the magazine that white over black or black over white is from China - Blue used to be Japan but I see that some combinations of that are now from China as well. NZ used to use white with numbers very visible but are now going to red.

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  3. MosuraApril 16, 2010 at 12:14 PM

    Thanks for that. I'm off to read the link now.

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  4. Tyto TonyApril 16, 2010 at 4:24 PM

    Well done. Good to see you getting reward for your watching and counting.

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  5. mickApril 16, 2010 at 4:57 PM

    Thanks Tony. So many questions still to be answered about exactly where these little birds stop on their northward and then southward migrations.

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  6. FABApril 17, 2010 at 3:46 AM

    Another excellent sighting of tagged waders Mick. It would be interesting to know where these little fellows have been and even how long ago they were tagged. FAB.

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  7. mickApril 17, 2010 at 4:17 AM

    Hi Frank, those are all things I would like to know as well. We really know very little about the precise movements of shorebirds along the flyways.

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  8. Denis WilsonApril 17, 2010 at 8:01 PM

    Nice work, Mick.
    You patience is being rewarded,a s is that of the people in China who are flagging these little guys.
    By the way, your last image is just beautiful - Wings fully extended like that.
    Well done.
    Cheers
    Denis

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  9. mickApril 18, 2010 at 12:00 PM

    Thanks Denis. I enjoy going out and watching and photographing shorebirds. Finding one like this is just the icing on the cake.

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