Red-necked Stint Carving 125

I recently got back from vacation to Thailand and Japan. It was wonderful and both countries were very unique and interesting. In preparation for the trip I did lots of research on birds that I could look for while there, and I thought of doing a carving for each country.

The first carving I made was for Thailand. I wanted to visit the salt pans south of Bangkok and look for shorebirds. A wide variety of shorebirds can be found here, including the very rare and critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper. I stayed in Bangkok for a few days and did see a lot of new birds, especially by the river and in a fruiting fig tree by my hotel. After that we traveled to Phuket and I did get a chance to be near the beach and look for shorebirds. The first few days I was only able to find Common Sandpipers, and even though I looked in appropriate habitats wasn't able to find any other species. Before going back to Bangkok we stayed in a hotel near Sirinat National Park. It was pretty much a standard tropical beach and I didn't expect to find any shorebirds there. Fortunately at the beach hotel we were staying at there was a coral sandbar that extended from the sandy beach and stuck out into the ocean. During high tide the sandbar, which was actually just massive amounts of broken coral fragments, was cut off from the beach and much smaller. This was perfect because a large flock of about 100+ Lesser Sand-plovers rested here. Among the Sand-plovers I was able to find some a few Common Redshanks, one Ruddy Turnstone, and one Sanderling. Also, very happily, a few Red-necked Stints. I was really worried I wasn't going to be able to find any!

Here's a bunch of Lesser Sand-plovers resting on the coral sandbar. During high tide it seems they would come here to rest until low-tide comes and they travel to exposed areas to feed. Oct 2019.

A close up of one of the Red-necked Stints I saw. They were easy to pick out among the many Sand-plovers because they are constantly moving, and the Sand-plovers were quite still. Oct 2019

Another shot of the Red-necked Stint. Its so tiny and very cute, they're also very active. 

Feeding and running, and then taking off and flying back to the sandbar. They could 

be described as "hyper". Oct 2019

Most of the island is made up of these broken coral branches as well as 

large plate corals and other broken chunks of hard coral. 

My Red-necked Stint - Calidris ruficollis, in the habitat where I saw them. 

This one I painted in the winter plumage with a few worn summer feathers. 

I also made the base to resemble the sand and mud from the salt pans. It has bits of clear/white fine glitter to resemble crystalized salt on the sand. 

Red-necked Stint - Calidris ruficollis,  Carving 125, a view of its back with a single summer feather. 

You can see all the broken pieces of branching corals that the birds feed and peck around during high tide. During low tide I think they travel to the shallow mudflats and river deltas.

Red-necked Stint - Calidris ruficollis, Carving 125. Standing on the coral sandbar. 

All around the sandbar there's a beautiful coral reef, full of coral, fish, and marine invertebrates. 

The water was crystal clear as well and thankfully not too much trash on the beaches here. 

While watching the shorebirds an interesting thing happened. A Peregrine Falcon swooped down on the shorebird flock. They had all taken off just a moment before the falcon got to where the shorebirds were resting. It chased them fiercely and the shorebirds formed a tight and winding flock over the ocean. It was pretty amazing!! The falcon returned back to the island and rested for a moment on a coral boulder. It had failed to catch any of the shorebirds despite its incredible speed!