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Subject: Great Thick-Knee : 24 June 2009 [Print This Page]
Author: sbena    Time: 24/06/2009 12:17     Subject: Great Thick-Knee : 24 June 2009

A Great Thick-Knee (confirmed) at 12:00 on the scrape. Best viewed from Hide 1.

Just heard two were spotted this morning on gei wai #21.

[ Last edited by sbena at 24/06/2009 20:28 ]
Author: sbena    Time: 24/06/2009 13:07

A record shot - Mai Po gei wai #16/17 : 24 June 2009
Author: lkatherine    Time: 24/06/2009 13:31

A few more record shots.


Author: kmatthew    Time: 24/06/2009 13:33

Aamazing record!! hope it will still be around tomorrow so more people can see it!!
Author: oLDcaR    Time: 24/06/2009 13:41

WOW   GREAT RECORD !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Author: ajohn    Time: 24/06/2009 14:21

This is a stunning bird, and an amazing and unexpected record (especially considering June is usually so quiet for rarities). Thank you to Bena for getting the news out quickyl so that people could see it today.

I hope that the bird (birds?) stays for a few more days so that more get the chance to see it. Thick-knees are often more active at dusk, so it may be worth a trip after work even if you can't make it during the day
I'm sure there will be plenty more photos posted later today or over the coming few days!
Author: lrichard    Time: 24/06/2009 18:25

This is an astonishing record of a bird that's very rarely recorded in China.

As far as I'm aware, the only China records sre from Yunnan and Hainan.

There seem to be just four Yunnan records, all from the extreme south, southwest or west:

* one collected Jinghong 16 Apr 1960
* one collected Mangshi 26 Apr 1962
* one collected Tengchong date unknown (these 3 records listed in The Avifauna of Yunnan vol 1, 1995)
* two seen between Baihualing & Ruili on 3 Jan 2004 (per Cheung Ho-fai)

and these are the only known Hainan records, all from the West Coast in Nov-Dec:

* three collected Wanning Dec 1903 (The Birds of Hainan, Hartert 1910)
* three collected Puqian/Qinglangang 13 Nov-21 Dec 1964 (SCIEA Collection, Guangzhou)

This is a bird I dreamed of seeing on trips to Hainan & Yunnan - a great find by Bena & Roger!
Author: lrichard    Time: 24/06/2009 18:38

Whoops! I should have checked more carefully before I hit the reply button. The Hainan sites are on the East Coast, not the West Coast.

Anyway, my point is that the HK record is probably only the second for China since the 1960s and also a significant range extension.

Can anyone add more records?
Author: John Holmes    Time: 24/06/2009 19:15

Thanks you to Roger, Bena, Kwok jai, Shirley, Tung....







Author: maria    Time: 24/06/2009 20:04

thanks bena for releasing the news, thanks MLC for teaching me so many things today & thanks xianji for lending me the use of your telescope!!!  my records aren't as good... it was sitting quite far away and i couldn't quite get its bill... anyway, just to share what i've got...

by 5DM2 + 300mm + 1.4X


by digiscoping
Author: wleepoin    Time: 24/06/2009 20:38







Thanks to Roger, Bena, John A, Shirley, Tung, Geoff C, Geoff W......

Cool bird for a hot Summer day!

Cheers
PWMK
Author: lmichael    Time: 24/06/2009 20:40     Subject: Previous Great Thick-knees in China

Great bird - again thanks to Bena, Catherine et al. at Mai Po for getting the news out so fast.

Re. China status, I had not realised it was so rare in Yunnan. I know that Paul Leader saw it in southern Yunnan in c.1989. It is probably worth checking with Liu Yang, Jesper Hornskov, Paul Holt in Beijing who may have other modern records.

Mike Leven
Author: lmichael    Time: 24/06/2009 20:51     Subject: Not a range extension

Sorry if this seems like a very pedantic point, but a single record does not constitute a range extension. We have one record of Steppe Eagle in Hong Kong, but that does not mean that SE China is part of the range of the species. A range extension constitutes more or less regular breeding, migration or wintering occurrence.

There is an underlying point to this comment - if we in China talk about the range of Great Thick-knee as extending to Hong Kong, then the BirdLife International database may start to treat SE China as part of the range. That could have the consequence of downgrading threat status (which is partly based on the area of the range); and it would all be on the basis of a single, almost certainly, lost, vagrant bird.

In the words of the BBC in UK during WWII: 'Careless talk costs lives'.

Mike Leven
Author: kmatthew    Time: 24/06/2009 21:08

A great bird indeed, I couldn't even wait another day and went this afternoon!!It got attacked by the breeding Black-winged Stilts a lot when it woke up! The poor bird got chased off several times...

It was way too far for my camera, it did landed on a closer patch of land at one point, but got chased away by the Stilts again!!

24/6/2009














Author: ajohn    Time: 24/06/2009 21:44

Fortunately the Thick-knee managed to escape the stilts and was still present (and seemingly relaxed) until it got dark at about 7.30 this evening. Still no sign of a second bird though!
Author: lrichard    Time: 24/06/2009 22:24

Yes, Mike Leven's right. It's not a range extension.

Assuming it's accepted as a wild bird, it's a first record for Hong Kong, Guangdong and Southeast China, and by far the most easterly for the species.
Author: cchristina    Time: 24/06/2009 22:38

Thanks Bena for finding the bird and Thanks Jemi and Kinni for the information.

Author: hkinni    Time: 25/06/2009 00:03

Thank you to Bena for finding the bird and Thanks to jackie for the information







Author: maria    Time: 25/06/2009 11:36

hi kinni, nice meeting you yesterday and great photos!

just wonder if it is still there today???
Author: Beetle    Time: 25/06/2009 12:08

Quote:
Original posted by maria at 25/06/2009 11:36
hi kinni, nice meeting you yesterday and great photos!

just wonder if it is still there today???
Pity no sign of the two birds today morning.
Author: HFCheung    Time: 25/06/2009 13:37

In response to Richard's post:

The records that I have is way back to Nov(?) 1993(?).  We saw this species (2 to 3 birds) in the town of both Yinjiang and Ruili.  This was seen together with CY Lam, CN Ng, Li Wai Ki, and Wong Tin Wa.  Yinjiang and Ruili is on two different river system.  Therefore, we thought at that time this species was not uncommon.  But in the trips following this one, this species was not seen for about 10 years, until a trip in 2003-04 winter.  On 3rd(?) of January 2004, Gary Chow claimed that he saw one flying along the river (Lujiang) at Daojia (near Bawan).  We did a search along the river but could not re-locate the bird.

HF Cheung

[ Last edited by HFCheung at 25/06/2009 13:39 ]
Author: thinfor    Time: 25/06/2009 17:20

Quote:
Original posted by Beetle at 25/06/2009 12:08

Pity no sign of the two birds today morning.
Oh...it has left already?  I am not free until coming Sat!  



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