Zhoushan is the largest archipelago in China, located on the coast of the East China Sea, the so-called Zhoushan return does not look at the island, there are 1390 islands here, like a brilliant pearl sprinkled in the vast sea. Zhoushan Archipelago has a long history, the ancient name of "sea in the continent", the unique scenery of the island gives here endless charm, blue sky, blue sea, green island, golden sand, white wave is the main color of Zhoushan eco-tourism environment, to the sea, fishing, city, island, port, navigation, business as the characteristics, set island scenery, marine culture in one, and the scenic spot Putuo Island has become the world of birds. "A line of egrets on the blue sky", and in today's Putuo, seagulls, egrets, birds.... Soaring freely in this mountain and sea island, these flying elves, sometimes circling, sometimes staying on the surface of the water, feeling the ecological Putuo healed by birds. It was also here that I met my friends and photographers who stayed in the migration to replenish the national second-class protected animal, the crooked-billed bird ibis-billed sandpiper. In autumn, Putuo Island presents a beautiful scene of "the sunset and the lone bird flying together, and the autumn water is long and the sky is the same".
The sandpiper, 40 cm long, is a grey, black and white sandpiper in the genus Chordata, Ornithischia, Plover, Partridge, And Sandpiper. The partridge's forehead, crown, face, chin, and throat are all black, forming a contiguous patch of black spots, surrounded by narrow white edges. The back of the neck, the sides of the neck, the front neck and the upper chest are bluish grey. The chest has a broad black horizontal band, and a narrower white band between the black band and the gray of the upper breast, and the rest of the lower body under the black band is white. The entire upper body such as the back and shoulders are grayish brown.
The ibis-billed sandpiper has black-brown flight feathers on the wings with white spots on the inside, while the medial primary and lateral secondary flight feathers are white at the base, forming a large white spot on the wings. The inner flight feathers are greyish brown. Large and primary coverts are dark brown. The middle and small coverts are greyish brown. The wing margins are white. The upper coverts of the tail are dark brown , and the surface of the feathers is slightly stained gray. The tail feathers are smoky grey with narrow gray-black wavy transverse spots and broad black-brown secondary spots, and the outer tail is white with wide black transverse spots. Winter feathers are similar to summer feathers. But the face has a slightly unclear white feather tip. Juveniles are similar to adult birds , but have white or black-brown faces with many white tips. The chest strap is also dark brown, and the white chest strap is missing. The upperparts are brownish with orange-skinned yellow feathers. Iris red. The mouth is long and curved fairly downward, curved, and the color is bright red during the breeding season and dark red in other seasons. The feet are bright red during the breeding season and greyish-pink in other seasons. The young birds are embellished with green.
The ibis-billed sandpiper inhabits mountainous, plateau and hilly areas along streams and gravelly rivers. The altitude of the distribution ranges from offshore sea level in the east to alpine areas of about 4500 meters in the west. In winter, it is more active in the foothills of low altitudes. Resident birds and migratory birds that migrate vertically. They often move and feed alone or in small groups of 3-5 on gravel beaches and on the beaches on both sides of the river. Sometimes they also wad into stomach-deep water, sticking their heads and necks into the water to feed. Sexual alertness, the slightest noise, that is, crouching still, until the danger is approaching, only to quickly walk away or take off to escape along the zigzag path between the gravel.
The ibis-billed sandpiper mainly feeds on worms, centipedes, and insects and insect larvae such as ephemera, hairy-winged, isoptera, hemiptera, coleoptera, hymenoptera, etc. It also eats small fish, shrimp, and mollusks. Often alone or in small groups of 2-3 animals on the gravel beach by the river, using their long, curved mouths to probe for food in the crevices of the gravel, or to dip their mouths into the cave to catch food. Sometimes it also pecks directly on the ground or on the surface of the water, and sometimes even wads into the deep water, sinking the head and neck into the water, and using the long, curved mouth to probe the bottom of the water for food.
The ibis-billed sandpiper, which breeds from May to July, breeds in pairs. From the beginning of April to mid-April, the male begins to whine and chase the female. Pairs form at the end of April and the beginning of May, and nests begin in pairs. They usually nest on small islands between gravel on the banks of rivers or in mountain streams. The nest is very simple, mainly in a shallow pit between the gravel, without any bedding, or only some small cobblestone. 3-4 eggs are laid per clutch. The eggs are greenish-gray or grey in color and covered with yellowish-brown spots. Males and females take turns incubating the eggs.
It is distributed in western Xinjiang, western Tibet, southern and eastern Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, and northern Yunnan in China. The species has a wide distribution range, does not approach the fragile threshold standard for the survival of the species, and has a stable population trend, so it is evaluated as a species without survival crisis. This species has been included in the "List of Terrestrial Wild Animals Under National Protection beneficial or of important economic and scientific research value" issued by the State Forestry Administration of China on August 1, 2000. Listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2016, it is not endangered. It has been included in the list of wild animals under national key protection in China.