Tideline Sample Clauses

Tideline. Wading birds and shorebirds (e.g., ducks, Dunlin Calidris alpina) usually forage along the edge of moving tides (Peking University 1995, Melville et al. 1997). Xxxxxxx (1996) suggested that this is because tides bring in some prey items of birds. The Crosslinks2 EIA did not distinguish between birds feeding on the inter-tidal mudflats versus those feeding along the edge of the moving tide. The purpose in sampling for the current project was to quantify abundance of birds foraging at the moving tideline because that is considered to be a preferred foraging location. Birds along the tideline at Xxxx Xxx Shek, Xxxx Xxx Sha and Xxxxxx Xxx Nai were surveyed at tide levels between 0.4 and 0.7 m five times in late breeding season, 5 times in autumn migration season in 2001, 5 times in winter season and 5 times in spring migration season. Bird abundance was recorded by species within a 10 m wide belt centered on the tideline and extending a total length of 500 m along the tideline to sample a total area of 0.5 ha at each of the 3 locations during low tide (10 x 500 m).

Tideline. Twelve bird species were recorded feeding on tidelines at the 3 combined sampling locations between September 2001 and May 2002 (Annexes Q, R, S). There were no significant differences between mean bird density (K = 0.33, p = 0.847, Kruskal-Wallis test) or mean species richness at tidelines (K = 1.13, p = 0.569, Kruskal-Wallis test) between the 3 surveyed sites (Table 3.11). During low tide bird surveys the tidelines at Xxxx Xxx Shek were always seaward of the oyster culture beds. Birds feeding on the tidelines at Xxxx Xxx Shek were therefore not affected by loss of intertidal habitat and human disturbance as they were on the exposed intertidal mudflat. However, birds tended to feed on the tideline in Xxxx Xxx Shek after the tides passed the oyster beds.