Introduction A few weeks ago Rick Simpson, of Wader
Quest, contacted me to encourage me to take part in the
4th Wader
Conservation World Watch on the 4th and 5th November 2017.
This weekend of wader watching is organised in order to draw
attention to the plight of the world's wader/shorebird species
which are almost universally in decline due to a combination
of wetland habitat destruction, pollution, hunting, predation
by introduced species and development of beaches. I found
myself in Petchaburi province, Thailand, for both of these
dates and there could hardly be a better place in the world
to observe and count waders and, of course, I found a wide
range of species, in large numbers, including some extremely
rare birds. Unfortunately, I also discovered some saddening
destruction of prime wader roosting pools by a poorly-sited
mangrove planting project.
Weekend Account
The first site visited in the early morning of 4th was Pak
Thale. This is a traditional wintering site for the critically
endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper but I was not aware of any
regular sightings up until this date this year so I was not
sure if I would find one. Well, I should not have worried
because I did find one although it was not easy as there were
large numbers of small birds present and they were not very
close or in good light, however, that distinctive bill stood
out and eventually as it got closer we could see it well.
The photo is not going to win any awards but you can see that
distinctive bill shape.
Spoon-billed Sandpiper & Red-necked Stints
In the same area were large numbers of Red-necked Stint,
Broad-billed Sandpipers, a flock of 750+ Eurasian Curlew with
one Far Eastern Curlew picked out among them, Black-winged
Stilts, a few Curlew Sandpipers, 1 Dunlin, 3 Ruddy Turnstones,
many Marsh Sandpipers, a few Common Greenshank, lots of Lesser
Sand Plovers and Greater Sand Plovers and some Kentish Plovers.
All good but some of the gloss was knocked off when I drove
the very short distance to the coastline to find that the
pools that were adjacent to a row of mangroves and which were
favoured for roosting by many of the large waders were being
planted up with rows of mangroves which completely destroy
the site for roosting shorebirds.
Some may say that the waders can go and roost somewhere
else but I would suggest if that somewhere else was as good
a place to roost as this had been then they would have been
there in the first place. Moreover, the whole area of salt
farms and associated pools is gradually being lost to small
developments, land use change and general squeeze on habitat.
Waders prefer an open aspect and as mangroves and factories
enclose pools the shorebirds stop using them. I have also
seen Spoon-billed Sandpiper feeding on these pools on quite
a few occasions. Another resource for one of the world's rarest
shorebirds destroyed and the irony is that the mangrove planting
seems to be feted as some sort of environmental project.
Moving on I went a short distance to Wat Komnaram where
a large flooded field always contains some interesting wader
species. Here there were a couple of Grey-headed Lapwings,
2 Long-toed Stints and a few Little Ringed Plovers to add
to our wader total. But guess what? Part of the site was destroyed
last year, being turned into deep-water shrimp farms and the
rest of the site is now for sale, no doubt to go the same
way and remove another piece of quality bird habitat.
We drove to Laem Pak Bia district where we got some close
views of Red-wattled Lapwing, Wood Sandpiper and Marsh Sandpiper;
all common birds here but nice to see at close range.
Wood Sandpiper
Marsh Sandpiper
A little around the corner there was to be found something
a bit more out of the ordinary. The abandoned building is
actually a good place to find Asian Dowitcher and true to
form there were two of these among a flock of Black-tailed
Godwits; a nice find. There were plenty of commoner species
here too and we added Pacific Golden Plover, Ruff, Common
Sandpiper as well as Common Redshank to our day list of waders.
Our next site required a short boat trip out to the sand
spit at Laem Pak Bia. This is a great place to find a few
specialities and moments after arrival we were watching 5
Malaysian Plovers on the sand. These lovely birds are under
threat too as they specialize in nesting on sandy beaches
which are under constant pressure from human usage. This particular
site has suffered over the years from some truly stupid engineering
works by the local authorities which have resulted in a large
amount of sand being eroded and deposited in an area that
the Plovers cannot use. This and a car park being built at
a formerly secluded beach have reduced the number of Malaysian
Plovers that nest here. I should also mention the iThara Resort
close by which was built on a former Malaysian Plover nesting
site and is, incredibly, now used by many birding tour companies.
I know that not using the place is not going to change things
but do birders really have to patronize a business that has
contributed to the increasing decline of this highly sought-after
bird? That is ridiculous.
Our other target species on the sand spit was White-faced
Plover. This distinctive bird is currently regarded as a subspecies
of Kentish Plover but should probably be better treated as
a full species due to structural, plumage and ecological differences.
A number of Sanderling were also to be found on the beach
here along with large numbers of Kentish Plover, several Lesser
Sand Plover and a single Whimbrel.
That was it for the 4th November but on the 5th we visited
nearby Petchaburi Rice Fields in the morning. The only wader
species that were added to our weekend list were Pheasant-tailed
Jacana & Bronze-winged Jacana, but we did also see plenty
of Black-winged Stilts, Wood Sandpipers and a few Marsh Sandpipers
here. At this time of year, just after the end of the rainy
season, water levels are quite high in the rice fields making
the habitat unsuitable for some of the species that are usually
found there such as Snipe and Stints.
However, we had the afternoon to play with and a return
to Laem Pak Bia district put us in the salt pans just as many
species were returning from the mudflats with the rising tide.
Several flocks of a few hundred Great Knot flew past us close
by and on the salt pans were several Bar-tailed Godwits, a
small group of Pied Avocets and a single Nordmann's Greenshank,
all new species for our weekend total. Of course we also saw
many birds that we had seen the previous day including Long-toed
Stint, Temminck's Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Pacific Golden
Plover, Grey Plover, Broad-billed Sandpiper and others.
Over the weekend we saw 36 species of waders plus White-faced
Plover which some authorities treat as a seperate species.
As well as being a good weekend of birding it really brought
home to me the pressure that waders are under from human activity
seeing habitat being destroyed and degraded in front of me.
The fact that little by little this area, which is an extremely
important wintering site for many species, is being chipped
away and it may not be very long before there are very few
large expanses of habitat left here and if the pools that
Spoon-billed Sandpiper so heavily favours are damaged in any
way or the land use changes this critically endangered bird
will lose its most important wintering site in Thailand.
I hope many others took part in the World Conservation Wader
Watch and that it results in at least some new people becoming
involved in wader conservation. If you want to be involved
in wader conservation take a look at the Wader Quest website
where details of exactly how the money that they have raised
has been spent (Wader
Quest Project Updates) and hopefully this transparency
will encourage others to donate towards the projects they
support. If you were not involved this year, keep an eye on
the Wader
Quest website for next year's Wader Watch.
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