News
The AFCoW News & Events section will provide an outlet for news reports and commentary on waterbirds in the Asian Flyways as well as reporting on new publications (see References). A schedule of Events will be provided for meetings, workshops, and other activities that may interest AFCoW members. Please feel free to send topics for News & Events to the organizers through the contact page or listserve.
14 March Webinar talks (two parts)
Francis A. Commerçon (Yale School of the Environment)
Analysis of Wetland Prioritization for EAAF Migratory Waterbird Conservation
In the global fight against biodiversity loss, biologists rely on spatial prioritization approaches to plan allocation of limited conservation resources. I qualitatively analyze the widespread population percentage approach to wetland prioritization for migratory waterbird conservation in the EAAF and ask why connectivity-based inclusion criteria are lacking. I suggest one explanation may be how birds are valued in sub-national conservation politics. At its root, the difference in usage between population percentages and connectivity metrics might be the scale difference between counts of birds and tagged individuals. When advocating site conservation against economic interests, ecological values often must be defended using a way of thinking that fails to recognize the legitimacy of knowledge obtain from small numbers of tagged birds. Migratory connectivity is critical for the persistence of waterbird populations, yet it is understood at the scale of the individual bird. A shift toward recognizing the value of individual birds’ experiences is a first step toward achieving effective population-level conservation.
Paul Antony B (Bombay Natural History Society)
Migratory pattern of coastal birds through Kanyakumari, India with special emphasis on terns
Kanyakumari being located at the southern tip of peninsular India and at the meeting place of two seas with the Indian Ocean, this site attains significance for migratory birds that winter and pass through India. These sites act as a stopover/ refuelling site during the southward migration (August to mid-October) for the birds migrating to the southern hemisphere countries. Similarly, many species that might not have passed through this site during the southward migration occur during the northward migration (mid-February to early April). This three-decade study documented the changes in the population trends of several migratory species, especially in Crested terns. The mass movements recorded in several tern species which did not happen during northward passage indicate that the species take different migratory routes for their northward and southward journeys. The major migratory groups consist of terns followed by waders and flamingos. The dominant species during southward passage are predominantly marine terns and a small number of shorebirds. During winter the dominant groups are mostly ducks and several species of waders and flamingos. Species that utilise these sites as a stopover during northward migration are predominantly waders and marsh terns (Whiskered, Gull-billed, Little & Saunders’s terns). Habitat specialists like Grey Plover, Terek Sandpiper, Common Greenshank and Ruddy Turnstone also occur at the sites in more numbers during northward passage. Contrary to the other sites like Chilika and Point Calimere, this area supports Whiskered Tern only during the northward passage. It can currently supports the largest population of Common Terns (80,000 to 1,00,000), Lesser Crested Terns (c. 20,000), and Greater Crested Terns (c. 80,000) which stayed briefly during northward migration. The BNHS’s bird ringing studies at Kanyakumari have produced interesting recoveries on Common tern, Lesser Crested tern, and Whiskered tern.
15 February AFCoW webinar
Dr. Nyambayar Batbayar: Tracking the migration of threatened White-naped cranes from Mongolia and its conservation implications
Since 2014, we have tracked over 80 White-naped cranes from various locations at their breeding grounds in eastern Mongolia. The individuals we tracked belong to the western flyway of the species where most migrate between Mongolia and Poyang Lake. There are some clear indications about the migration divide between the two flyways. Several individuals tracked from easternmost Mongolia belonged to the eastern flyway reaching Korean Peninsula. It seems to be the two flyways are not completely separated. We have identified several key stopover sites, which we believe the species’ survival depends on them. One of them is Duolin, a site located in southern Inner Mongolia. The location was a hub for the cranes in the northern part of the range. This raises several questions, including the area’s health and introduction of infectious diseases, etc.
If you don’t have access to YouTube, please find the recording on Bilibili:
18 January AFCoW Webinar Uploaded!
Our AFCoW Webinar has been uploaded from 18 January 2023 where Dr. Xu, Fei from Tsinghua University presented on “Migratory herbivorous waterfowl couple the seed wave and green wave during spring migration.”
Join us on 15 February 2023 for our next webinar!
If you don’t have access to YouTube we have also uploaded our webinar to BIlibili: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14Y411X7WU/?share_source=copy_web&vd_source=c53d6edc8ddb6324ee27fd5fa135ece7
Asian Waterbird Census 2022
Wetland International just released “Asian Waterbird Census 2022”.
Have a look here: https://mailchi.mp/e6c1f15b5e69/4onefwf0ja-5379386?e=e44cfaac35
14 December AFCoW webinar uploaded!
In December’s AFCoW webinar, Dr. Bala (Deputy Director of the Bombay Natural History Society) presented “The Global Significance of Shorebirds Ringing at Point Calimere- with special emphasis on the changes in the migratory movement pattern.” He showed us the importance of Point Calimere in connecting central Asia and eastern Asia by waterbird migration.
Our next webinar will be held on 18 January 2022. Dr. Fei Xu (Chongqing University) will present on “Migratory herbivorous waterfowl couple the seed wave and green wave during spring migration.”
See times below:
Beijing and Ulaanbaatar: Wednesday, 18 January, 21:00
USA: Wednesday, 18 January, 08:00 EST; 07:00 CST; 05:00 PST
Tokyo and Seoul: Wednesday, 18 January, 22:00
New Delhi and Colombo: Wednesday, 18 January, 18:30
Sydney: Thursday, 19 January, 00:00
Wellington: Thursday, 19 January, 02:00
Abu Dhabi: Wednesday, 18 January, 17:00
Amsterdam: Wednesday, 18 January, 14:00
London: Wednesday, 18 January, 13:00
Join us on Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82132674647?from=addon
Meeting ID: 821 3267 4647
If you don’t have access to YouTube, we have also uploaded our webinar to Bilibili: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1GP4y1S7VW/?share_source=copy_web&vd_source=c53d6edc8ddb6324ee27fd5fa135ece7.
16 November Webinar Uploaded!
Our AFCoW webinar has been uploaded from 15-16 November 2022 where Gayomini Panagoda from Department of Zoology & Environment Sciences, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka presented on “Insights and opportunities from a poorly studied, land-locked flyway.” She recorded the first bird that migrate all the way from Sir Lanka to the Arctic, 20,500km round trip. What a breathtaking journey!
Our next webinar will be held on 13-14 December 2022. Where Dr. S. Balachandran from the Bombay Natural History Society will present on “The global significance of shorebirds ringing at Point Calimere- with special emphasis on the changes in the migratory movement pattern.”
See times below:
If you don’t have access to YouTube we have also uploaded our webinar to Bilibili: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1GP4y1S7VW/?share_source=copy_web&vd_source=c53d6edc8ddb6324ee27fd5fa135ece7
26 October Webinar Uploaded!
Our first AFCoW webinar of the season has been uploaded from 25-26 October 2022 where Dr. Yong Zhang from Nanjing Forestry University presented on “Population dynamics and diversity of wintering waterbirds in the Shengjin Lake National Nature Reserve.”
Our next webinar will be held on 15-16 November 2022. Where Goyomini Panagoda from the University of Colombo will present on “Insights and opportunities from a poorly studied, land-locked flyway.”
See times below:
Beijing and Ulaanbaatar: Wednesday 16 November, 10:00
USA: Tuesday 15 November, 21:00 EDT; 20:00 CDT; 18:00 PDT
Tokyo and Seoul: Wednesday 16 November, 11:00
New Delhi and Colombo: Wednesday 16 November, 07:30
Sydney: Wednesday 16 November, 13:00
Wellington: Wednesday 16 November, 15:00
Abu Dhabi: Wednesday 16 November, 06:00
Amsterdam: Wednesday 16 November, 03:00
London: Wednesday 16 November, 02:00
If you don’t have access to YouTube we have also uploaded our webinar to Bilibili: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1GP4y1S7VW/?share_source=copy_web&vd_source=c53d6edc8ddb6324ee27fd5fa135ece7
18 May Webinar Uploaded!
Our last AFCoW Webinar of the season has been uploaded from 18 May 2022 where Zhiwei Guo from Louisiana State University presented on “How do the wetlands on the Liao River Plain in Northeast China support migratory cranes?,” Yachang Cheng from Sun Yat-sen University presented on “The first GPS tracking study of pelagic seabird, the streaked shearwater in Yellow sea, China” and Hui Yu from Wageningen University presented on “A new GPS transmitter system allowing continuous on-board behaviour classification – a case study with Pacific Black Ducks.”
Our next meeting will be in September/October! Keep an eye on your emails for future dates and let us know if you would like to present some of your work or if you have any other ideas for AFCoW!
If you don’t have access to YouTube we have also uploaded our webinar to Bilibili: Link coming soon!
“The Secret North Korea Stopover: Following the world’s migratory shorebirds”
“These birds know no boundaries, they don’t know anything about politics…”
Check out this interesting story mentioned by David Melville from the Global Flyway Network in our latest webinar (19 April 2022) about shorebirds in North Korea.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2018/05/27/the-secret-north-korea-stopover-following-the-worlds-migratory-shorebirds/
19 April Webinar Uploaded!
Our AFCoW Webinar has been uploaded from 19 April 2022 where David Melville and Adrian Riegen from the Global Flyway Network presented on “Shorebirds of the West Coast of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – status and challenges for conservation” and Bruce McKinlay from the New Zealand Department of Conservation presented on “New Zealand Waders: current research and conservation.”
Our next meeting will be held on May 18 at 6AM San Francisco, 8AM New Orleans, 9AM Washington DC, 2PM Europe, 9PM Beijing, 11PM Sydney — this will be our last webinar of the season but we’ll be back in the fall!! Hope to see you all there!
If you don’t have access to YouTube we have also uploaded our webinar to Bilibili: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1gY4y1a7c7?share_source=copy_web