Monday, August 23, 2010

9th August 2010 - 1st Summer Spooner

My summer vacation begins here...

Spent the afternoon trying unsuccessfully to dodge very heavy rain showers at Khok Kham, then when the clouds eventually parted I found Phil Round and once we located a stint flock we wandered out to it and soon located the 1st Summer SPOON-BILLED SANDPIPER that has been frequenting this area for the last week or so.

The bird was rather distant, so it was impossible to pick up clear feather detail, but the bird looked heavily grizzled on the upperparts and, interestingly it looked smaller than the accompanying red-necked stints (adult winter birds, which i am used to seeing, usually looked somewhat bigger than RN stints.

Also seen were a single Long-toed Stint, plus a bunch of (mostly lesser) Sandplovers and a few Broad-billed Sands.

soggy Stilt

 
Lesser Sandplovers, Red-necked Stints and Long-toed Stint.  I have big respect for waders - they thrive in a saline environment which throws extreme heat, cold and precipitation at them, and many times  they just sit it out!