Wang Haolan

Holly_cn@163.com

TWO lesser sand plovers wearing foot tags marked as “T6” and “R4” were spotted by local birdwatchers at Shenzhen Talent Park in Nanshan District over the weekend. The two birds have each been spotted more than 10 times in Shenzhen since 2019.

A member from the Shenzhen Bird Watching Society, who goes by the nickname “Kent,” spotted the ringed lesser sand plovers at the pebble beaches which serve as the habitats for migratory birds in the park. “The lesser sand plovers usually forage on low tides at Shenzhen Bay’s mudflats and rest at the beach in the park when the tide is too high for them to wade in,” he said.

The two lesser sand plovers are estimated to stay in Shenzhen for a while and then continue their migration to the wintering grounds in the south, according to Kent.

“Theoretically speaking, the southernmost region they can migrate to is Australia,” said Kent. “However, no one has ever spotted them there. We hope more birdwatchers both at home and abroad can participate in recording the ringed birds and thus we will be able to get a more complete and precise migration route of the species.”

“T6” and “R4” are estimated to have visited Shenzhen for more than five times since April 2019 and each has 18 and 15 spotting records in the Shenzhen Bay area on the “本地观鸟” WeChat miniprogram, respectively. Most of the records were reported in Shenzhen Bay between March and April and between August and September, which is highly consistent with the time lesser sand plover flocks stop over in the city during their yearly spring and winter migration.

“The spotting time and location of the two ringed birds are almost identical, indicating that the species are prone to follow the same route and stay at the same stopovers during migration,” said Kent. “And thus, we should better protect the environment at Shenzhen Bay to guarantee the birds have enough habitats and food for their following travels.”

Both birds were ringed at the Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong when they were chicks in November 2018.

There are also other records of ringed lesser sand plovers reported in Shenzhen besides “T6” and “R4.” A bird wearing the foot tag “A1,” which was ringed in Hong Kong in 2011, has been spotted in Shenzhen more than six times over 10 years and was last spotted at Shenzhen Bay on April 25.

Ringing migratory birds helps study their regular flyways, stopovers and detours during migration.

Ringing materials often contain small metal or plastic bands or foot tags with unique codes and colors which enable researchers and birdwatchers to quickly identify the ringed individual among its peers. Lesser sand plovers “T6” and “R4” wear yellow-white combo foot tags, which indicates that they were ringed in Hong Kong.

The lesser sand plover is a small-sized plover with an average length of 15-17 centimetrs and is often identified by its orange plumage and black mask during breeding season. The species usually breed in the northeastern Eurasian area and on the Tibetan Plateau, and spend winter in the Indian Ocean area and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean.