It has been almost 10 months since my last shorebirds survey trip. So I am very glad to be back in action. This time I join a group of 'new' birders to this shoreline. Naturally at this time of the year, the newly arrived birds are still having their colourful breeding plumage and they didn't disappoint us.
Tibetan Sand Plover with a Red-necked Stint
Anarhynchus atrifrons & Calidris ruficollis
Tibetan Sand Plover
Anarhynchus atrifrons
Apparently there are two types of 'Lesser Sand Plovers' which have been separated as two distinct species of their own. One of them is the above. Majority of the waders seen here were from this group/species (A.atrifrons).
Tibetan Sand Plover
Anarhynchus atrifrons
Some of them are still very much in their breeding plumage.
The other one which Dave Bakewell described as "having shorter, more blunt-tipped bill and slightly shorter
legs. In flight, looks long-winged; white wingbar is typically less extensive
than on other sand plovers" is the Siberian Sand Plover (Anarhynchus mongolus) of which is reported not being seen in Malaysia as yet ! Note: All the above Sand Plovers are Tibetan Sand Plovers and the blurry one in the foreground is actually a Broad-billed Sandpiper and the other two on the most left are Curlew SP.
Initially I thought this Plover might fit the description of a Siberian Sand Plover but experts say nope.
Here's another one.
It appears like one of those A. mongolus race of Stegmanni.
Naturally the most attractive ones will be those with their red hot plumage and none is more prominent than the ones shown by the Curlew Sandpiper.
Curlew Sandpiper
Calidris ferruginea
Speaking of plumage, I found out a word called 'Transitional Plumage' which the literature described as "the temporary feather
condition when a bird is molting between its non-breeding (basic/winter)
plumage and breeding (alternate/summer) plumage". During this transition process, their feathers will look like the above bird - 'patchy', 'scruffy', 'smudgy' and 'oddly patterned'. Scroll further down to learn more about their plumage terminologies.
Here are a few more photos showing the various 'transition' plumage of some Curlew Sandpiper.
It looks like having speckles of jewels on its back.
Two Curlew Sandpipers showing two different plumage patterns.
This Curlew Sandpiper as do the other birds above are most likely experiencing what is called a 'staged pre-basic moult'.
As usual, each trip would produced some 'unusual' looking shorebirds.
When I posted this photo in FB, many experts have refrained from commenting but I think it was just a Great Knot (Calidris tenoirostris).
Eventually all of them came and landed safely.
Great Knot (Calidris tenoirostris).
Ruddy Turnstone
(Arenaria interpres)
They are actually common but their numbers are only a handful here. That makes them one of those a must-see shorebirds.
Ruddy Turnstone
(Arenaria interpres)
In flight
Ruddy Turnstone
(Arenaria interpres)
In this trip, I only saw four of them.
Broad-billed Sandpiper
(Calidris falcinellus)
Here's another wader which population has probably reduced. I only saw three at this site.
We also saw these duck-liked waders 😃
Terek Sandpipers
Xenus cinerues
Their numbers are just slightly more than those of Broad-billed Sandpipers
This is probably the third largest number of waders seen at this site after the Tibetan Sand Plovers and Curlew Sandpipers.
Red-necked Stint
Calidris ruficolis
They are always at the forefront if you see them together with flock of mix waders.
Red-necked Stint
Calidris ruficolis
Red-necked Stint
Calidris ruficolis
Only a small number of them are showing their summer plumage.
Red-necked Stint
Calidris ruficolis
90% of them are already in their basic/winter plumage.
Red-necked Stint
Looking neat and sharp.
Here's another plover which is not easy to find although they are not uncommon.
Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii)
As in the case from my previous waders surveys, I have noticed that there are quite a number of juvenile birds accompanying adult birds in their long journey to their respective wintering grounds. These observations are probably in contrary to the earlier saying that adult birds will arrived earlier than the juveniles. These observations may also meant that there are likely some irregularities in the waders' breeding patterns/timing which may also indicate the effect of climate change.
Greater Sand Plover
(Charadrius leschenaultii)
Juvenile
Here comes the rest of the smaller juveniles.
Tibetan Sand Plover
Lesser Sand Plover (previous common name)
Anarhynchus atrifrons
Charadrius mongolus atrifons (previous scientific name)
Tibetan Sand Plover
Anarhynchus atrifrons
Charadrius mongolus atrifrons (previous scientific name)
Juvenile
Tibetan Sand Plover
Anarhynchus atrifrons
Charadrius mongolus atrifrons (previous scientific name)
Juvenile
Another juvenile.
Tibetan Sand Plover
Anarhynchus atrifrons
Charadrius mongolus atrifrons (previous scientific name)
To appreciate more the beauty of these shorebirds, one can dive deeper into their plumage formation. Here are a few common terminologies in the avian literature which described the various formations. I hope I am able to show them in a pictorial form.
Pre-formative plumage according
to the avian literature involves the transition of juvenile plumage to a
more adult-like appearance. The above is a juvenile Tibetan Sand Plover (A.
atrifrons ) and according to Dave
Bakewell (a local resident bird expert here), by November, this
juvenile bird would have almost completed its pre-formative
moult. During this juvenile stage, its entire feather profile is
actually called a juvenile plumage which is attained by
a pre-formative moult, according to Dave Bakewell.
Also according to Dave Bakewell, the prefix 'Pre' can't actually be used to describe a plumage. I think what he meant was that to describe a bird's plumage, you can use/describe them as either an 'Alternate Plumage' or a 'Basic Plumage' but not as "Pre-alternate plumage or "Pre-basic plumage". However, you can use the word 'Pre' to describe the feather moulting process such as Pre-basic moult or 'Pre-alternate moult. To illustrate the above meaning, have a look at the photo below:
To describe the plumage of the bird on the left, we can't describe it as having a 'pre-basic plumage' but we can describe it as having a pre-basic moult (as per Dave Bakewell's suggestion). Anyway since some literature did mentioned / include the word 'pre' in their explanations, so the word 'pre' is included here just for my general knowledge to understand the feather transformation process.
Once the juvenile birds begun to reach their adult stage, their feathers will then transit into their pre-alternate plumage.
Pre-alternate plumage - usually occurs before breeding season whereby the feathers will eventually become their alternate plumage which is actually their breeding plumage. There is also another term which is called a partial pre-alternate plumage which involves only some partial feather replacement. Unfortunately I am not able to find any suitable or rather reliable photos to depict this moult.
Note: in Dave Bakewell's gospel, the correct term to describe the above bird should be that it is undergoing a Pre-alternate moult which will eventually leads to its alternate plumage.
Also note that because these post and photos here were taken in the month of August, the above bird is actually still in its alternate plumage.
Here is a Tibetan Sand Plover showing its breeding / alternate plumage.
After breeding season, the waders' feathers will then moult into a 'Pre-basic Plumage'.
Pre-basic plumage usually occurs after breeding season whereby their feathers will eventually moult into basic/winter plumage.
Note: in Dave Bakewell's gospel, the correct term to describe the above bird should be that it is undergoing a Pre-basic moult which will eventually leads to its basic/winter plumage.
Here's another example.
The bird on the left is showing an 'Alternate Plumage' while the bird on the right is having a pre-basic moult whereby its overall plumage will eventually turn into Basic/Winter plumage.
Avian literature as well as experienced birders are mostly suggesting that most birds adopt a 'Proximal Replacement' approach in their Primary Moult process i.e from inner primary feather (P1) to outer primary feathers (P9 or P10).
An Eurasian Curlew showing some primary moult from 'proximal' to 'distal' as well.
Eurasian Curlew
Numenius arquata
I saw a flock of about 20 of them flying overhead but only one was seen close by.
The highlights of watching shorebirds/waders does not only confine to seeing rare birds. It is also involve finding banded birds. To me, being able to spot a banded bird is equivalent of seeing a rare bird.
A Curlew Sandpiper with a 'White-over-Yellow' VN tag.
Here is what Catherine Leung, an expert ringer from the 'East Asian-Australasian Flyway' (EAAF) group has to say about this bird:
"Curlew Sandpiper white-over-yellow VN was banded by my team at Mai Po
Nature Reserve, Hong Kong on 7-Apr-2023 as adult. It was observed in Luannan,
Hebei, China for 3 consecutive spring: May-2023, 2024, 2025 and reported once
in Kapar, Selangor, Malaysia in Aug-23"
Coincidentally this Curlew Sandpiper was also seen at Kapar and I believe this same bird could have also visited the same area in 2024. It is probably not seen by the shorebird spotters.
Here are a few flight photos. Most of them were taken from a distance.
Red-necked Stint
Tibetan Sand Plover
The above photo is like taken in the winter 😊
Here is a mix flock.
Only two common species though.
Lesser Adjutant
A resident stork which hardly can be seen up North like in TAT.
Here is something different. Not easy but I manage to get a shot of a jumping 'fish' !
It's a Gold-spotted Mudskipper
Periophthalmus chrysospilos
Gold-spotted Mudskipper
Periophthalmus chrysospilos
Apparently this mudskipper is common in this region.
THAT'S ALL FROM THE MUDFLATS !
HAVE A GREAT TIME !
