Franklin's Gulls at Mai Po - 19th April 2016

Franklin's Gulls - Leucophaeus pipixcan

Yes, you read that correctly.

With only a handful of China records, and Hong Kong's first bird around various places in Deep Bay for four months or so, another appeared today, 19th April.

The Franklin's Gulls are behaving like buses - you wait ages for one, the TWO come along at the same time.    Thanks to Ivan TSE for spotting the second.  I had noted the first and then moved on to look at egrets.

The most attractive of these was this Chinese (Swinhoe's) Egret....

Chinese Egret - Egretta eulophotes

And many, many  waders out there today, on a tide that just crawled under the innermost boardwalk hides.

Curlew Sandpiper - Calidris ferruginea

mostly "shanks"

Asian Dowitcher - Limnodromus semipalmatus

Black-tailed Godwits - Limosa (l) melanuroides

These shots are from yesterday, despite the rain, some decent birds came quite close to the outermost hide.  Worth getting rained on getting out there.

Curlew Sandpiper - Calidris ferruginea

Greater Sand Plover - Charadrius leschenaultii

The flagged birds have been reported to the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society co-ordinator.

Lesser Sand Plover - Charadrius mongolus

Long-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus scolopaceus

And two shots from a week-or-so ago that I've been looking for an excuse to post; -

Nordmann's Greenshank - Tringa guttifer

Nordmann's Greenshank - Tringa guttifer

Gotta love April at Mai Po !