SEP still in Sri Lanka, SHE and SEC in south-east Asia

The ‘Indian’ bird (SEP) spent many weeks in Sri Lanka and led us to wonder just what route it might take from there to hopefully get back in Australia again by early December. Some movement northwards, but still within Sri Lanka, suggests it may well come back via a rather roundabout route similar to the path it followed on its way from north-west Australia to its breeding grounds in southwest India.

The two birds in Vietnam have shown quite different behaviour. SHE, which was the first bird to move northwards from Australia in February 2019, is also the first bird to have set off back on southward migration. At present it is in south Sumatra, about halfway between its Cambodian breeding area and its Australian non-breeding location. In contrast, SEC has moved a little north and is now actually within the Tonle Sap Lake Biosphere Reserve – where SHE actually bred. It probably has very sensitive feeding area and is therefore particularly suitable as a fattening ground for the forthcoming southward migration.

Unfortunately SUN, after a long period of giving poor/intermittent signals from Taiwan, has finally gone ‘off air’.