Some say that the male Lime 07 is the champion of the EAA flyway, others named it Super Spoonie! We are delighted to share that Lime 07 is still alive and likely to breed again this year in our regular monitoring site at Meinypil’gyno, Chukotka, Russia.

Here is a brief timeline of Lime 07, illustrating its lone but solid contribution towards our understanding of SBS migration ecology and the head-starting initiative! See SBS TF News Bulleltin 19 (p. 27-29) for further details on Lime 07.

2013

First marked to the east of Meinypil’gyno, Chukotka, Russia on 23 June 2013 by BirdsRussia scientists, he paired with Lime 08 and their clutch of four eggs was taken for head-starting, all four of which hatched and fledged.

2016

After a gap of two years, he was sighted again on 4 February 2016 at Khok Kham, Samut Sakhon, Thailand. He was then seen on Sonadia Island, Bangladesh in winter (first seen: 21 November 2016; last seen: 17 February 2017).

2017

Lime 07 was observed in spring with a new unmarked female, but his nest was not found.

Lime 07 in Meinypil‘gyno, Chukotka, Russia on 11 June 2017. Photo by Nikolai Yakushev

2018

Satellite tag and migration

Lime 07 again appeared on the breeding grounds at Meinypil’gyno. In 2018, Lime 07 and Lime 08 again bred together and produced three eggs, which were left with them to hatch themselves. All three hatched and all three chicks fledged.Lime 07 was fitted with a satellite tag on 7 July 2018. He then started his migration from Meinypil’gyno on 19 July 2018, flying 1,285 km south-west to Magadan, staged there for 8 days before continuing his migration to northern Sakhalin where he stayed for another 8 days (using 2 sites).

Satellite tagging Lime 07 in Meinypil‘gyno, Chukotka, Russia on 7 July 2018. Photo by Pavel Tomkovich

Discovering new sites

He set off on the next (1,981km) leg of his migration on 8 August arriving at Yonan, DPR Korea on the 11 August where he then remained for 67 days (thus identifying a new site), presumably to moult and fatten up for the onward journey.

At this point we expected his tag to fall off during the post-breeding body moult, but his tag remained attached and continued to provide new data.

New wintering ground

Lime 07 left DPR Korea on 17 October 2018 and flew (non-stop 51 hour 2,400 km flight) to south China, and stayed in the region for 9 days. He then continued his migration towards its main wintering ground, however instead of going to Bangladesh or Myanmar, he headed to northern Sumatra where he arrived on 30 October after a non-stop 49 hour flight of 2,300km! He was subsequently found by Chairunas Adha Putra (Nchay) on 3 November actively feeding on some fishponds together with other Calidrids. He remained at the same site in northern Sumatra until the evening of 17 December when we lost contact with him. This was the first record of SBS in Indonesia.

Lime 07 in northern Sumatra on 3 November 2018. Photo by Chairunas Adha Putra

NOW

On 04 June 2019, Lime 07 was again found in Meinypil’gyno, Chukotka, Russia by scientists of BirdsRussia!  We are eagerly waiting to know who Lime 07 will pair with this year, how many offspring he will father and how many more surprises he has to offer!

Lime 07 back to Meinypil’gyno, Chukotka, Russia on 04 June 2019. Photo by Nikolai Yakushev

Prepared by Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force