Shorebird Videos

Still remember the Whimbrels from this post and the Kentish Plover and juvenile Grey-tailed Tattler from this post? Now they're back again in video format. I don't have the same video editing program that I used while I was in Thailand, which was the Cyberlink Power Director. It's a great program but like other great programs, it's not free. I didn't want to buy it again, so I just didn't do any more editing until I found that YouTube has quite a nice video editing function. All the contrast, brightness and stabilising were done by the YouTube video editor. It's very easy and the result looks satisfying. Now I don't have to bother looking for any other video editing software. Don't forget to select 1080p for full HD viewing!

Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus variegatus)

Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nihonensis)
This one was shot handheld but the stabiliser in YouTube video editor did a great job.

Juvenile Grey-tailed Tattler (Tringa brevipes)

Not In Kent

This will be my last post about this year's autumnal passage waders. I have posted photos of Whimbrel and Terek Sandpiper, so here I'll be posting photos of the other 2 regularly seen waders in Beppu, the Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nihonensis) and the Grey-tailed Tattler (Tringa brevipes). After photographing the Terek Sandpiper in the earlier post at Shouninga-hama beach, I made a short visit to Mochiga-hama beach to check if there's any interesting migrant. There I found a lone first-winter Kentish Plover sitting in a shallow hollow on the sandy beach trying to blend itself into the environment. I just wished that it was the same juvenile bird that I found earlier in summer.

Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nihonensis)

The bird proved to be quite obliging and I didn't have to crop these images much. The light was also perfect and I took these shots at ISO200 only. I searched through the internet about the origin of the name Kentish Plover and sadly found out that the bird doesn't breed in Kent or the rest of UK anymore. It seems to be just a scarce visitor now. It reminds me of a similar case of a mammal called White-thighed Surili (Presbytis siamensis) that I saw at Fraser's Hill earlier in March this year. Photos and story of it can be view here. Its scientific name siamensis refers to the former name of Thailand, Siam. However, the species is not found in what is called Thailand today. Similar but not the same, the reason why the White-thighed Surili is not found in Thailand anymore is because the area where the species was first described in 1841 by Müller & Schlegel, which was then occupied by Thailand, was sold to England in 1908 as part of Malaysia. So, equally strangely, we now have an animal with the name that refers to Thailand but cannot be found in Thailand anymore.

Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nihonensis)

Interesting effect caused by different backgrounds!

This is how the bird was first found!

On the next day, I visited Shouninga-hama beach again in hope of getting some more shots of the waders, but it turned out to be a bad day for photography. Most of the birds stayed out on the artificial sea walls far from the shoreline. There was only a few Grey-tailed Tattlers running along the small beach. I spotted one individual with fishing net tied to its legs. It seemed to have difficulty walking and couldn't step its left foot firmly on the ground. It allowed me to get as close as a few feet away but not close enough to catch it, so I couldn't help unravel the net from its legs. It later flew away and joined the group which was perching on the sea wall. I just wished that it will survive even with both legs tied up.

Juvenile Grey-tailed Tattler (Tringa brevipes)

Late Afternoon

Gotta be more active in publishing posts in order to keep up with the photos I took. These shots were all taken in and around the artificial river near my dorm several weeks ago. A few juvenile Grey-tailed Tattlers were still lingering around, though all of them have already gone by now. The White and Grey Wagtails were numerous. The White Wagtails were especially photogenic. Many of them showed yellowish wash on their faces indicating that they're juveniles.

Juvenile Grey-tailed Tattler

Note its pale fringes on upperwing coverts

Juvenile male White Wagtail (Motacilla alba lugens)

Non-breeding Grey Wagtails

Some more photos of the migrating starlings again. I finally found out that the flock came down to bath in the river before flying up to preen themselves on electrical wires nearby before flying out to the Beppu Tower, their actual roosting site. I didn't find any Red-billed Starling since that day, although I scanned through most of the main flocks. Photographing them at dusk was really difficult since the speed was really low and the photos also look really dark.

Autumn Tattlers

These photos were taken during the last few weeks. There were several autumn Grey-tailed Tattlers residing in a small artificial river near my place along with a pair of Common Sandpiper and White Wagtails. The tattlers were all juveniles judging from the pale fringes on their upperwing coverts. I still haven't seen any non-breeding adult. These birds will come back all in full breeding plumage in spring.

Juvenile Grey-tailed Tattlers (Heteroscelus brevipes)

Non-breeding Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)

The weather changes quite often during the last two weeks. Some days were a bit cold, with so much raining, while some were very sunny or windy. All these changes made me feel sick, actually not just me, but a lot of people in the campus seemed to catch a cold. I already saw some Ginko trees shed their bright yellow leaves as well, but most of the others are still green. Hope the real bright weather of autumn arrives soon, I'm sick of dull overcast and rainy days.

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba lugens)

They caught small insects living under the surface.

Ducks have also arrived Beppu as well. Above is a flock of 17 Northern Pintails and 1 female Common Teal. The flock was flying from somewhere in northern direction and landed in the sea behind my dorm. I went to check the teals at Sekino-e the other day, but found that the fields were still full of lotuses, thus no birds could be seen. These lotuses should dry up in a week or two, then the farmers will clear them up, and now that's time for birding again.

Some more shots of the Common Sandpiper to end this entry