On the same track

Being a bird on its 4th year of life and its third northward migration, LA seems to know the China coast like the back of its “wing”. Stop-over sites used were very similar to previous season.

After travelling for nearly 4,800km from NW Australia to China, LA only refuelled for about a week in southern China (Shantou, Guangdong and Xiamen, Fujian). Then it made another 1,300km flight to Qingdao, Shandong for a quick one-day stop-over. This is about the same pattern as in season 2019. This brings its total tracked distance travelled to 6860 km over nearly 1200 days!

LA made it to Panjin, Liaoning on 9 May and is using rice field in area similar to 2019. In the previous two seasons, LA left northern China around 22-24 May to Russia. Let’s see if it will follow the same regime again!