A few people apparently didn't get my facetious humor. I didn't expect
anyone else thought SPGR was a Spotted Greenshank. In reality I couldn't
think what SPGR would be. The first thing I thought of was "Spotted
Greenshank". (I didn't think that was actually the bird intended by
"SPGR".) I wasn't sure if this was indeed a species of Greenshank, so I
googled it. Now I don't know if I'd heard of the species before or if I
only chanced upon it. I did once live within its range (NE Coastal Asia,
wintering from the Bay of Bengal and Sumatra and might have heard of it from
that time. I was inspired to laern a bit more about the species and expect
that some of you might have had your interest piqued also.

If you want to repeat my search I googled:

"Spotted Greenshank" OR "Nordmann's Greenshank " OR "Tringa guttifer"

Some of the best general info I found was at these 2 sites:
http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/birds/Tringa_guttifer/more_info.html

http://www.rdb.or.id/detailbird.php?id=120

among the better photos were at the links I added earlier:
Spotted Greenshank (Tringa guttifer).
http://www2.kongju.ac.kr/srcho/endangered/e12.jpg

http://homepage2.nifty.com/stints/tringa/Spottedgrsk-1wB4.jpg

An interesting article on the destruction of a significant part of it's
remaining habitat:
http://www.birdlife.org/news/pr/2003/08/saemangeum_letter.html

Some of the more interesting facts I learned:
-Apparently never recorded in North America,
-Nests in small groups in Larch trees near the coast.
-Population thought to be under 1000 individuals worldwide
-Habitat destruction may drive it to extinction
-Aquaculture is considered among main causes of decline

One thing I'd suggest if you want to help prevent their extinction is to
stop eating farmed shrimp - i.e. I believe, most of the shrimp now on the
market. This shrimp farming in mangrove areas is driving many other species
towards extinction also along with the poor fishing communities that depend
on them.

On the question of whether it would have been seen in the monsoon wetlands
around Chu Lai, Vietnam back in 1968, it does migrate through Vietnam, but I
don't know that it would have been in that habitat or at that time of year.

Stewart Wechsler
Ecological Consulting
West Seattle
206 932-7225
ecostewart at quidnunc.net

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and how to enhance habitat for the maximum diversity
of plants and animals
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