Movement patterns of Sanderling (Calidris alba) in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and a comparison of methods for identification of crucial areas for conservation

• Published in: Emu - Austral Ornithology
• Main Authors: Lisovski, Simeon, Gosbell, Ken, Christie, Maureen, Hoye, Bethany J., Klaassen, Marcel, Stewart, Iain D., Taysom, Alice J., Minton, Clive
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Calidris alba; Sakhalin; Sanderling
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/52139/; https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/52139/1/Lisovski_at_al-2016-Emu.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1071/MU15042; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.b65990fd-c1ab-4892-bd86-ad164ac68381

Worldwide, most populations of migratory shorebirds are in jeopardy, none more so than those of the EastAsian–Australasian Flyway (EAAF). In order to preserve these highly mobile species a detailed understanding of their useof feeding and resting sites along theflyway is required. In this study we used light-level geolocators and new analyticaltools to reveal individual breeding locations and migration routes of 13 Sanderlings (Calidris alba) that spend their non-breeding season in South Australia. We then used these individual migration routes to identify the timing and location ofimportant stopping areas and compared this with assessments based on resightings of leg-flagged birds and count data.During both northward and southward migration, Sanderlings were found to make extensive use offive main areas of theChinese coastline, the Yellow Sea and the northern end of the Sakhalin Peninsula. Insights gained from the individualmigration routes highlight inherent biases in using only count and resighting data to identify important feeding and restingsites along the Flyway. Thesefindings suggest that data on individual movements may be crucial to effective conservationplanning of shorebirds in the EAAF and elsewhere in the world.