Bird Migration

HAZARDS FACING MIGRANT BIRDS AT BEIDAIHE
Martin D. Williams

Beecroft (in Williams 1986, pp. 114-120) describes hazards, such as hunting and trapping, which faced migrant birds at Beidaihe. Similar hazards were evident during autumn 1986, when observa-tions of the local people’s interactions with birds were again recorded.

Hunting for food and ‘sport’ As in spring 1985, there were a few occasions when men with guns were hunting birds, with waterfowl and shorebirds the main targets. On 21 September, one of two hunters at the Henghe Reservoir was carrying four dead Common Moorhens Gallinula chlo-ropus, and on 22nd a hunter at the Henghe Sandflats killed a Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica and maimed a Far-Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis. The only other date when hunting was noted at these localities was 23 August, when shorebirds were, apparently, the quarry. These, and the waterfowl, were presumably taken for food. However, it seems likely that a Blue Magpie Urocissa erythroryhncha which was found at the Lotus Hills on 13 October, and had evidently been shot at close range, had been killed for ‘sport’.

Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata LT—one seen in game shop, end of November. Other (unidentified) divers seen in spring and autumn. H, COE—no records. Ch—migrant and winter visitor to the coast from Heilong River, Heilongjiang, south to Guangdong; status: extremely rare.
1986: singles were recorded off King’s Point on 9 November and off FP on 20 November.
1987: one bird, 3 November.
1988 (Ho): no records.
1989: 29 bird-days, 4-8 November; highest day total 17 on 5 November; all records from the coast; most were in flight.

Autumn bird migration at Beidaihe, China, 1986-1990
(incorporating the report on China Cranewatch 1986)

Edited by Martin D. Williams

CONTENTS

SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
THE HABITATS AT BEIDAIHE
METHODS
Methods used to record passing migrants
Variation in the degree of daily coverage
RESULTS
The timing of the migration in autumn 1986
The routes used by migrants observed passing Beidaihe
Correlations between weather and migration
Species systematically treated
Divers
Grebes

I first visited Beidaihe, a resort on China's east coast, in spring 1985, and have returned each year since, mostly as leader or co-leader of migration surveys and birding tours, a couple of times for a holiday. In all, I have spent over a year at the town, garnering a Beidaihe list with over 300 Asian migrants, and experiencing superb spells of birding. In addition, trying to stimulate conservation work — it was partly on my urging that, in spring 1990, the town established an unimpressive nature reserve.