Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information Na Muang Krabi is an important site for migratory waterbirds. The globally threatened Nordmann's Greenshank Tringa guttifer and Chinese Egret Egretta eulophotes are regular winter visitors to the site, while another globally threatened species, Masked Finfoot Heliopais personata, is a regular non-breeding visitor. The site supports resident populations of two globally near-threatened species, Mangrove Pitta Pitta megarhyncha and Brown-winged Kingfisher Halcyon amauroptera, while a third globally near-threatened species, Asian Dowitcher Limnodromus semipalmatus, occurs regularly as a passage migrant. In addition, the site supports of 1% of the Asian biogeographic populations of Common Tern Sterna hirundo and Lesser Crested Tern S. bengalensis. The site qualifies under criterion A3 because it supports one species (Masked Finfoot) restricted to the Indochinese Tropical Moist Forests (Biome 09).

Site description The IBA comprises the estuary of the Krabi river, immediately upstream and downstream of Krabi town, on the west coast of peninsular Thailand. Mangroves cover c.10,200 ha, and have mostly been degraded by logging. Intertidal sand- and mudflats cover a further c.1,200 ha at the river mouth. The site also includes a number of limestone karst outcrops. The site is included within Krabi Estuary Ramsar Site, which was designated in 2001and covers 21,299 ha.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Krabi Estuary	Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar)	21,299	protected area contains site	11,400

Habitats

Other biodiversity No information is available about other globally threatened species at the site.

Management considerations The proximity of the site to Krabi town, one of the most popular tourist destinations in peninsular Thailand, means that biodiversity at the site is threatened by tourism development, infrastructure development and pollution. Other threats to biodiversity include loss of mature mangrove, due to conversion into shrimp ponds and a lack of environmental safeguards in afforestation schemes. In addition, dredging of river channels at the site is altering sedimentation patterns important for maintaining sandbars and intertidal mudflats.

References Bird Conservation Society of Thailand Bulletin 20(12) (December 2003). BirdLife International (1998) Proceedings of the Thailand IBA workshop, Bangkok, November 1998. Unpublished report. BirdLife International (2001) Threatened birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International. Office of Environmental Policy and Planning (1999) Directory of internationally important wetlands in Thailand. Bangkok: Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment. (In Thai.) Ramsar Bureau website http//: www.ramsar.org

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Na Muang Krabi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/05/2013

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