Shorebirds survey (Malaysia) - August 2020

In June 2020 I have surveyed the intertidal flats at Kuala Muda, Peninsular Malaysia and I have another opportunity to conduct a survey again in August 2020. Unfortunately the timing of the tides are not so ideal - the receding tides happened in the early hours of the morning. Hence the waders were at the edge of the shoreline when i reached the place.

Here's an overview of the survey landscape. The furthest I have venture out was the little bush in front.

In watching waders, you will need to be as close as possible in order to get a decent shot of them. Otherwise they will appear like some small specks in your pixel.

Here is a group of waders (mainly Common Redshanks) waiting for the tide to recede.

More joined them as the tide recedes further.

Then the smaller Charadrius flew in.

It was certainly difficult to find a spot in such a crowded field but landed they did.

Then came the bigger waders - here is a flock of Black-tailed Godwits with some Asian Dowitchers on the bottom right of the photo.

Followed by a flock of Asian Dowitcher. I have counted about 50 of them. This number is certainly a far cry from the numbers recorded in Qingkouhe mudflat in China. There the researchers have recorded close to 22K in a day which is equivalent to about 73% of the global population (BirdingAsia # 32). But chances of seeing them are higher in the Northern Peninsular Malaysia as compared to other areas such as the North-Central of Selangor coastline.

It was the same situation on my second visit i.e two days after the earlier one. The waders stayed quite a distance away.

They were mainly scattered everywhere on the mudflat and I have only surveyed about 200 - 300 meters of the total area.

Some did came close like these ones.

Lesser Sand Plovers

This one is almost to its winter plumage. I believe its a juvenile Lesser Sand Plover - highlighted by its peachy wash color on breast and face.

Red-necked Stint
 

This time there were lots of terns

They would prefer the less muddier part of the flats.

When the Brown-headed Gulls arrive in October, they will usually replace them (the terns) at this location.

This Eurasian Curlew is actually handicapped as it lost one of its foot but it was doing just fine.

A pair of Little Egrets 

A Grey Heron casually strolling along the flats. 

A wide angle view of the terns and waders.

They were mainly Common Terns with a few Little Terns (at the bottom) accompanying them.

More terns taking flight.

Once awhile some of them will fly close by.

This is a Common Tern (S.h longipennis)

Here is a small group of Asian Dowitchers together with other waders.

You will never get bored of watching waders/shore birds !