Wader Quest’s unique record of 166 species
The 8th Wader Watch 2020 has new records to share: 473 participants observed 166 species of waders in 52 counties spread over six continents and nine flyways of birds during two days, end November this year. They belonged to Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia-Oceania, North & Central America including the Caribbean, and South America.
All about long distance migrants
Rick and Elis Simpson organised it again as an annual global search for birds (waders only) that are confined to edges of water to consume micro organisms. Many are long distance migrants. All those who participated are named in Roll of Honour column in the Wader Quest Special 2020 document that this couple based in UK have circulated all over globe this week. The species missed in count in previous years have been mentioned so also the species never seen so far. The couple are authors of the book: Quest for Waders doing a roaring service.
What surprises? From Scotland, Stephen Bowie reported,
‘I went to a few other local lochs (lakes in Scottish language) but unfortunately with no waders present.’
Rick’s experience:
“Believe me, getting a big wader list in a Buckinghamshire garden is no easy task, in fact, for the first time ever we had to count ourselves as members of the ‘nil point’ club.”
Wader Quest is a charity. Devoted to waders only. Rick appeals: We are looking for a volunteer to work alongside the team who will be dedicated to marketing the event. If this sounds like you then email at wcww@waderquest.net for more information. Wader Quest Merchandising (Books, Pin Badges, Earrings, Artwork, Greeting Cards, Posters, etc all items available with prices and details in the Wader Quest Shop on the website. https://www.waderquest.net/shop/
TWSI plays a leading role
India’s contribution at this wader race was through the Tourism and Wildlife Society of India (TWSI). Its team visited Sambhar lake and Nevta water body and logged in 18 wader species. Ruff was maximum in number, Black-winged Stilt and Red-wattled Lapwing were most common while Dunlin and Greater Painted-Snipe made surprise attendance. Govind Yadav, Minla Yadav, Rakesh Sharma, Naveen Singh, Mayank Sharma, Sumit Bari, Nishant Nath Shukla, Sameer Mirchandani and Harsh Vardhan forked out their time.
Hoping Bird-Banding shall see light of the day in India too
Aditya Roy, from India, reported having observed Great Knot (Tag no. 6Z, applied in Russia in 2019) and a Bar-tailed Godwits (J25 & J45, tagged by Bombay Natural History Society. Bird-banding is not allowed in India and we are harping on all authorities to open this knowledge-bank on avian species. It shall benefit the countries we cooperate with for business, industry and diplomacy, stated Govind Yadav to EB&W Portal.
Please see: The featured image is devoted to Wader Watch, TWSI’s Wader Quest group in India.