Wetland wonders

After a good night's sleep in a comfortable hotel, we were set up for some wader watching.

We went off to a huge fish farm complex where there are endless areas of shorelines for birds to feed up - especially important on migration.  The area also abuts the coast and we travelled to a couple of estuaries which had been turned into reserves and where there were hides and toilets - most welcome.

Kentish Plover

As we got out of the bus, we had a Kentish Plover doing its broken wing display to distract us from its young chick which was nearby, brilliant to see it so close although we did make sure not to disturb it and moved away as soon as everyone was off the bus.   Pied Avocet,  Black-crowned Night-heron, Black-winged Stilt, Greenshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Black-shouldered Kite, and then our first Black-faced Spoonbill, an endangered species of which there are only 2700 or so birds in the wild, and we saw 84 of them during the day.

We wandered along a road leading to an amazingly ornate temple - some of the group went to look at it a little closer, whilst the rest of us continued our bird watching.   A Chinese Reef Heron was found by Phil, the bird was in with other egrets, but hunkered down and with its plumes blowing around in the breeze it was easy to spot once it had been found.    Common kingfisher and cinnamon bittern were the final additions here.

Citsao Temple

Next stop brought forth Pacific Golden Plover, Yellow Bittern, Redshank, Lesser Sand-plover, Red-necked Stint and Common Tern.

We continued our travels through this vast wetland area stopping off regularly to view different areas which our guide knew of.   En route at one stage we had a single Coot, our first (and only - as it turned out) of the trip.

Our next destination was at the Black-faced Spoonbill Research Centre, where Whiskered Tern were displaying the superb black bellies in breeding plumage.   Yellow-bellied and Plain Prinia called from nearby bushes and we saw several pairs displaying.

Salt Pans being worked

The final stop of the morning brought forth Far Eastern Curlew, Caspian Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Grey Plover, Grey-tailed Tattler and Terek's sandpiper - pretty amazing given that the birds were a long way out and the light was bad with the mud and water taking on the same hazy hue as the sky.

Off for another great Chinese lunch and then back in the field for more birdwatching where we added Wigeon to the trip list.   The final stop was back to an earlier site and now that the tide had receded the birds were a little closer and in slightly better light.   We now saw Whimbrel, more Curlew and Grey Plover, Turnstone, Broad-billed Sandpiper and then a real delight as our group wader experts looked closely at a particular pair of waders and identified them as a pair of Asiatic Dowitchers.

Black-faced Spoonbill Art

A great end to a brilliant day's bird watching.