2 Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus) are waiting at the waterline in front of the Gold Coast Morib Resort. But even waders cannot cope with a rapidly rising tide. The flock of various species of shorebirds had already begun to gather and were being pushed closer to shore by the rising water level. Some small mangrove bushes/trees offered some shelter. There were some House Crow (Corvus splendens) and Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) which occasionally startled the waders and made them fly away. They always returned to the exposed sands, which were now covered by the rising water. The flock finally settled down very close to the hotel beach as further south it was disturbed by the Brahminy Kites which didn’t really pay much attention to the waders though. The birds were getting closer. Unfortunately, the exposed tidal flats are not only frequented by waders but also by human collectors – probably lugworms or crabs. Of course, they tend to scare the birds away. Nevertheless, I can now see a large group of waders ever closer. Among them are at least 20 Pacific Golden-Plover (Pluvialis fulva), then the mighty Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), at least 350 Lesser Sand-Plover or Mongolian Plover (Charadrius mongolus), a few (I guess 3) Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii), good 5 Terek Sandpiper but only 1 Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus) and 1 Common Redshank (Tringa totanus). But the highlight is the number of 27 Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), which is impressive. A little further on, on a sandbank that is still washed by water, there are some Little Terns (Sterna albifrons) and larger terns, which are probably Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) of the longipennis subspecies. 3 Striated Heron (Butorides striatus) fly along the edge of the sea. A successful afternoon in southern Malaysia and thus in the eastern Palaearctic.
To cope with the growing demand for top shots of the rarer species of the Palearctic Bird-Lens is keen to enrich the range of pictures of birds you can find in the western palearctic. Trips to remote places like this one to capture images not only of rare birds of western palearctic were very successful. The nice image of the blog is only a first impression, what you will find in the gallery in the “Picture Shop” very soon. Just give bird-lens.com a message, if bird-lens.com could serve you with an image needed before the new pictures are online.