Aquaculture pond banks as high-tide roosts: What physical characteristics are more attractive to shorebirds?

During the high-tide period, shorebirds that forage on intertidal flats move to sites known as high-tide roosts, which play an important role in their survival. Understanding how shorebirds use high-tide roosts at stopover sites is crucial for their effective conservation and management. As there is a lack of natural roosting habitats along much of the Chinese coast of the northern Yellow Sea, shorebirds have to use aquaculture pond banks. During northward migration in 2014, we investigated the preference of migrating shorebirds for six physical characteristics of pond banks that function as high-tide roosts at Yalu Jiang Estuary Wetlands National Nature Reserve, a key stopover site for migratory shorebirds. We found that shorebirds showed a preference for long banks with little vegetation cover for high tide roosts in aquaculture ponds. This information can be used to guide management for migrating shorebirds that use artificial habitat as high-tide roosts.