TTattlerattler Editor: Phil Straw PO Box 2006 Rockdale Delivery Centrem NSW 2215 Australia Email: [email protected] Newsletter for the Asia Pacific Flyways No. 5: April 2007 Contents ............................................................... page 6th Australasian Shorebird Conference 6-8 July 2007 Newcastle University Editorial .................................................................................. 1 Australia 6th Australasian Shorebird Conference ................................ 1 Saemangeum 2007 Monitoring Program 2007 ...................... 2 “Migratory Shorebirds AWSG Survey of the Coorong, South Australia 2007 ............ 3 in a Threatened Flyway” Satellite-tagged Bar-tailed Godwits from New Zealand to Arctic Tundra! ...................................................... 4 Just some of the conference topics covered: Asia Pacifi c Shorebird Network Update ............................... 4 Waterbirds Around the World ................................................ 5 • The latest technology will provide some of the most Record Number of Nordmann’s Greenshank ........................ 5 exciting fi ndings about shorebird migration anywhere in the Obituary ................................................................................ 6 world revealing the secrets of the world’s greatest migrant, Protection of Philippines Important Shorebird Site ................ 6 following previously unknown migration routes between North-west Australia Wader & Tern Expedition 2007 ............. 7 Alaska, Australia and New Zealand, the Yellow Sea and Wader Populations Estimates - Fourth Edition ...................... 7 Arctic Waders Breeding Success ........................................... 6 back to their high Arctic breeding grounds. • A picture of the unbelievable loss of shorebird habitat faced by our migratory shorebirds will be presented with the results of surveys throughout the Asia Pacifi c Editorial region and up to the minute reports of the effects of the This edition of Tattler includes some of the most exciting world’s largest land reclamation of intertidal wetlands. news about the fl ight of the Bar-tailed Godwit between • Is the story in Australia any more encouraging? The Arctic breeding grounds and the non-breeding grounds of venue for the conference is adjacent to the most threatened Australia and New Zealand, and now their return journey shorebird site in Australia with an alarming decline in via the Yellow Sea. The fi rst birds have since been tracked shorebird populations. fl ying the fi nal leg directly to Alaska. • On a brighter note, management strategies will Once again the AWSG and Birds Korea are working be discussed at Australian and New Zealand sites as well together to monitor the impact of the Saemangeum tidal as those in China and other parts of a complex network of fl ats reclamation. migratory fl yways. What hope is there for the future? Both of the above topics will be featured in the Australasian • Expanding the involvement of non-government Shorebird Conference 2007 at Newcastle University in July. organisations and engaging governments in shorebird In fact the ASC 2007 focuses largely on issues threatening conservation in the Asia Pacifi c region. the East Asia-Australasian Flyway from habitat loss and • Some facts about avian fl u in Australia and management challenges to avian infl uenza. overseas. In the last edition of Tattler the Editor asked whether we For full details see program/registration form enclosed with should continue with the production of the printed version this newsletter or register on-line at www.tasweb.com.au/ of Tattler in light of the increased use of web sites to awsg or at http://www.shorebirdnetwork.org/conferences_ disseminate up to the minute news. A number of people threatenedfl yway.html wrote to the Editor urging for the retention of printed form, at least for members of the AWSG. After lengthy debate Last call for papers it was decided to discuss the future of Tattler at the next There is still room for poster papers and time for one or two AWSG Committee meeting in Newcastle in conjunction oral presentations, as well as some funding for delegates with ASC 2007. presenting from Asia. Which ever decision is made it is time to look for a new editor of Tatter as the current one has been in the job since The deadline for abstracts of papers or posters has the fi rst issue of the newsletter in 1994 and needs to move been extended to 30 May 2007 which must be sent to on to other things (to do with waders of course). Anyone the Conference Organiser, PO Box 2006, Rockdale interested in taking on this role should contact the Editor at Delivery Centre, NSW 2216, Australia or philstraw@ the address at the top of this newsletter. avifaunaresearch.com. Tattler 2 Saemangeum 2007 fl agged in northwest Australia and at Chongming Dao in the Yangtze Estuary), it appears that some of this similarity Monitoring Program in numbers year to year might be in part the result of Great Knot building in number here this spring earlier than in This is a summary of count data and habitat assessment 2006, possibly due to more favourable weather conditions from the second spring-tide cycle of this year’s during migration allowing birds to reach the Korean west Saemangeum Shorebird Monitoring Program, a joint coast earlier? The third count cycle, in early May, should be initiative of the domestic organization Birds Korea and the useful in confi rming or refuting this. international Australasian Wader Studies Group. These While Saemangeum remains of considerable data and information will be refi ned further, for publication international importance to shorebirds, conditions within in the SSMP 2007 Report and in other papers, and can be most of the reclamation area continue to deteriorate, with cited freely by others (with proper acknowledgement and open expanses of desert-like dried-out sandfl ats and severe caveats). water quality conditions prevalent in many wet areas leading Between April 9th and April 19th 2007, a total of to red algal bloom puddles in muddy areas, dense gravy- fi fteen people counted or assisted counting shorebirds brown waters in some bays, and thick scum and dried foam within the 40,100 ha Saemangeum reclamation area (until in creeks and channels. The recent tidal range is estimated April 21st 2006, comprising the free-fl owing estuaries of at only 17 cm, and only one signifi cant area of tidal-fl at the Mangyeung and Dongin Estuaries), Gomso Bay and (lying far out in the Dongjin) appeared relatively healthy, the Geum Estuary, three adjacent intertidal wetlands on supporting 18,820 Great Knot and 2745 Dunlin on April the west coast of South Korea. In addition, two teams 18th. Many other areas used by shorebirds in 2006 and of observers also travelled north to Asan Bay (Gyeonggi in March and early April 2007 are becoming narrower and Bay) on April 16th to locate and photograph two Bar-tailed drier, and some such areas supported signifi cantly fewer Godwits (E1 and E8) satellite tracked to Korea from New shorebirds between the fi rst and second count cycles this Zealand. year. Data are here summarized from counts at Gomso While it remains too early to predict how the Bay on April 19th; at the Geum Estuary on April 15th; and shorebirds now staging and arriving within the area will within Saemangeum, between April 15th and 18th (including fare this spring, it does appear that we are now recording boat-based counts on the 18th). signifi cant displacement of birds from the Saemangeum At Gomso Bay, two full counts were made, with the reclamation area to neighbouring (and possibly other) sites. high tide count on April 19th producing 2,941 shorebirds, In the case of Gomso Bay, the near complete absence comprised largely of Great Knot (1664), Dunlin (720) and of Great Knot using the site in 2006 (or in earlier years) Far Eastern Curlew (315). This total compares with just a suggests that the area will likely be unable to support long- single shorebird found at the same site on April 15th 2006! term signifi cant concentrations of the same species in 2007 At the Geum Estuary, repeated counts at mainland and beyond. At the Geum, frequent skirmishes between sites were supplemented by simultaneous counts of both feeding Great Knot have already been observed (including mainland and outer tidal-fl at sites on April 15th. A total of pecking at legs and attempted stealing of food items), as 50,560 shorebirds were counted at this time, with most well as foraging in among tide-line garbage (possibly on numerous being Great Knot (28,554), Dunlin (13,050), stranded shellfi sh). Both suggest that many Great Knot Bar-tailed Godwit (4029) and Far Eastern Curlew (1405), might fi nd it very diffi cult to acquire the necessary weight while 9 Nordmann’s Greenshank (Endangered) were also and body condition to migrate and breed successfully, recorded. especially as it is believed that the species migrates more or This total compares with only 45,731 shorebirds less direct to breeding areas from this region in the second counted in the same area on April 17th, 2006, with much half of May. of the difference made by the very greatly increased total Considering the region’s extreme importance of Great Knot (only 10,429 in 2006), and lower numbers of to waterbirds, and the obligations held by South Korea both Dunlin and Bar-tailed Godwit. under the Ramsar Convention and under the Bilateral A second day of research at Yubu Island during a very Migratory Bird Agreement signed by Korea and Australia, it high tide of 6.7 m on April 18th produced a much larger is absolutely apparent that the sea-gates must be opened estimate of 50,000 Great Knot and 9500 Bar-tailed Godwit, further to restore greater tidal exchange, to reduce water as well as 16 Nordmann’s Greenshank and 50 Saunders’s quality problems and to maintain the few remaining areas Gulls (Vulnerable). These latter counts are not included in of healthy tidal-fl ats (even more so as, one year after the totals here, as they were not part of a simultaneous seawall completion, there still remains no end-use for any counting effort.