On August 16, bird-watchers spotted the Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca), a typical American shorebird, at the Chuanshuiwan Ecological Restoration Area of Tiaozini, Yancheng Yellow Sea Wetland, a World Natural Heritage site. Confirmed by Professor Chang Qing of Nanjing Normal University, this constitutes a new bird record for China. The finding came from field-based wildlife monitoring surveys and underscores Tiaozini’s key role in global migratory-bird networks.
Photo by Wang Yuhan
The healthy-looking adult foraged alongside local sandpipers. It is identified by its long bright-yellow legs, slightly upturned bill, mottled grey-brown upperparts and clean white underparts. It frequents ponds, farm ditches and coastal tidal flats. Experts suggest migratory orientation displacement or ocean storms may have carried this individual from the Americas to East Asia.
Photo by Wang Yuhan
As a vital hub on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, Tiaozini hosts millions of migratory birds each year. Repeated observations of rare and vagrant birds bear witness to the site’s healthy wetland ecosystem.