Black-faced Spoonbill recovery falters

09/05/2009 13:35:26 Has Black-faced spoonbill reached carrying capacity?
May 2009. The latest comprehensive survey of Black-faced Spoonbill has revealed a decrease in the number of wintering birds, with 2,041 individual birds counted compared to 2,065 in 2008. Coordinated by the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (BirdLife in Hong Kong) and supported by Wild Bird Society of Japan (BirdLife in Japan), Chinese wild Bird Federation (BirdLife in Taiwan), and the Indochina Programme Office, plus input from Chinese and Korean birdwatchers. This census is one of the best examples of single-species population monitoring in Asia.

1980's - Just a few hundred birds recorded
In the late 1980s, only a few hundred birds were recorded at two sites in southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, and all were under threat. As recently as 1999, Black-faced Spoonbill was classified by BirdLife on behalf of the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered. At the BirdLife World Conference in Rosenheim, Germany in 1994, BirdLife Partners agreed on the first International Action Plan for the species, coordinated by the Chinese Wild Bird Federation (BirdLife in Taiwan).

Implementation workshops were then held in Beijing (1996) and Tokyo (1997). These resulted in a systematic winter census, satellite tracking of migrating individuals, coordination of colour ringing (banding), an increased public awareness of the species and the discovery of new breeding sites in China and Russia and rediscovery in the Philippines The satellite tracking revealed for the first time that the demilitarised zone on the Korean peninsula is the species's main breeding area.

Taiwan and Hong Kong hold vital populations
The most important wintering populations have now been identified in the Zengwen (Tsengwen) Estuary of southern Taiwan (1,081 birds), and the Inner Depp Bay between Hong Kong and Shenzhen (335 birds). Also, the growing interest of birdwatching in mainland China has contributed greatly to the understanding of the distribution and number of this species. Until the beginning of 2000 there was a big gap of knowledge in coastal China. Now we know the many birds winter in Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan provinces.

Downlisted to endangered
"This has been an Asian conservation success story with Black-faced Spoonbill being downlisted to Endangered. What is more important is that the conservation of this species has brought former foes such as mainland China and Taiwan, and North and South Korea together to work for this common goal", said Simba Chan, Senior Conservation Officer in the BirdLife Asia Division.

It is probably too early to draw conclusions on whether the birds are reaching carrying capacity. The non-breeding number has been increasing almost every year since the census began in 1994, except in 1997 and 1999.

Development threats
However, the non-breeding grounds of Black-faced Spoonbill are still facing severe development pressure. For example, the artificial wetland on the reclaimed island in Fukuoka Bay, Japan, holds one of the country's biggest wintering populations. The site is due for development in a few years. A small coastal wetland in Macau, which supports 40-50 wintering birds (about 2% of the global population), is under threat from a casino development.

BirdLife has compiled an International Species Action Plan for Black-faced Spoonbill on behalf of the Convention of Migratory Species. This action plan will be launched this year.