Look out for colour-ringed

Saker Falcons from Mongolia!

Another great news from the Mongolian Saker Falcon Conservation Project which is implemented by the Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia and International Wildlife Consultants UK under the Raptor conservation MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the Mongolian Ministry of Environment, Green Development and the Environmental Agency of Abu Dhabi, 5000 artificial nest had been erected in the central and eastern steppe regions of Mongolia in 2010.

In the first breeding season (in 2011), 12% of the nest boxes had been used by the Sakers and other species. Since then, this rate increased continuously and in 2013 68% of the boxes have been occupied. These boxes are used by a variety of birds: last year we recorded 1364 breeding pairs of Common Kestrel, 383 pairs of Upland Buzzard and 386 pairs of Common (Northern) Raven in the artificial nests. In addition to that, 574 pairs of our target species bred and 1707 Saker Falcon chicks fledged that year. All chicks that have fledged had been marked with a white colour ring showing a three digit black code to be read downwards. Each code starts with a capital letter, followed by a two digit number. All rings are on the birds’ right tarsus and the height of the ring is 25 mm. There is a contact info in Mongolian, English and Chinese on top of the ring. In the second line, a Mongolian telephone number is given: 94177341 and also an email address: info@wscc.org.mn

One of the colour rings for Saker Falcon, © Batbayar Bold

Colour-ringed T93 juvenile Saker Falcon,

central Mongolia, Aug 2013 © Batbayar Galtbalt

Although our priority aim of this project is to develop sustainable harvesting model based on the breeding monitoring data we are very much interested in getting a year round picture of the birds’ dispersal, distribution, dismigration and so on, hence every sighting will be highly valuable for us. All observers of Saker Falcons are kindly requested to check for the presence of colour rings and to try to read the inscription. This should be possible by the use of spotting scopes and on reasonable photographs.

Please report your sightings by giving the colour, code, location (including geographical coordinates) and any other information via E-Mail to: info@wscc.org.mn or you can send us text to tel: +976 94177341. All data will be greatly acknowledged and observers will get the life history of their respective individual due course.

Batbayar Galtbalt
Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia

Please look out for flagged

shorebirds from Thailand

Over 10,000 waders have been flagged and banded in Thailand by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation during 2007 to the present under a national programme for wild bird surveillance. This has resulted in well over 100 foreign resightings of Thai-flagged waders, most from the coasts of E and NE China, with others from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

cannon-netting shorebirds. © Wicha Narungsri

A handful of Broad-billed Sandpipers. © Pinit Saengkaew

Roughly half of all waders flagged are Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers, for which Thailand holds internationally important wintering populations. As yet, we have yet to receive any resightings of either species in any country to the north of Thailand. Since the race(s) of Lesser Sand Plover that winter in Thailand are in the “atrifrons group” (probably mostly C. m. schaeferi), which breeds in Central Asia [along with Greater Sand Plover], this lack of resightings is understandable, especially given the huge land areas and the paucity of observers in that region.

Lesser Sand Plover © Philip Round/The Wetland Trust

© Pinit Saengkaew

© Pinit Saengkaew

We appeal to observers making birding trips in Mongolia, western China, and other Central Asian countries in the summer months to look carefully at any waders they see in order to search for birds bearing coloured leg-flags. Besides sand plovers there are other shorebirds bearing Thai flags that migrate overland and/or breed in Central Asia (e.g. Common Redshank) that should be looked out for.

leg-flagged Common Redshank, Pak Thale, Thailand. © Christopher Taylor

Department of National Parks ringing team. © Pinit Saengkaew

Thailand uses a black flag placed above a green flag. It is important to record both the shape of the flag (oblong or triangular), and whether the flags are on the right or left leg. (The flags may be both on the tibia, or with the black flag on the tibia and the green flag on the tarsus–precise position of the flags on the leg is not relevant to the resighting).

We should be most grateful for any reports of flagged waders. Resightings of flagged birds may be reported via the Australasian Wader Study Group web-page using the form provided: click here or direct to Ms. Duangrat Phothieng, Department of National Parks Wildlife and Plants Conservation, Bangkok, Thailand: pothieng at hotmail dot com