Justification This spoonbill is listed as Endangered because it has a very small population, split into several small subpopulations, that is believed to be undergoing a continuing decline owing to loss of habitat to industrial development, land reclamation, and pollution. A lack of baseline data makes identifying a population trend problematic, but if the apparent recent increases are confirmed as genuine, the species may warrant downlisting in the future.

Family/Sub-family Threskiornithidae

Species name author Temminck & Schlegel, 1849

Taxonomic source(s) Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)

Identification 76 cm. Smallish, white spoonbill with blackish bill and face. Similar species Eurasian Spoonbill P. leucorodia is larger, has yellow tip to bill and white face.

Population estimate

Population trend

Range estimate (breeding/resident)

Country endemic?

1,700

decreasing

15,200 km²

No

Range & population Platalea minor breeds on islets off the west coast of North Korea and South Korea, and Liaoning province in mainland China. Birds have been reported in the Tumen estuary of Russia, and breeding was recorded in South Primorye for the first time in 2006¹³. The three major wintering sites are the Tsengwen estuary of Taiwan, the Deep Bay area of Hong Kong (China), and the Chinese mainland and Hainan Island. It also winters in Cheju, South Korea, Kyushu and Okinawa, Japan, and Red River delta, Vietnam², and there are recent records from Thailand, the Philippines, Macau (China) and inland China¹⁰. The key known stopover sites used during migration are Yueqing Bay, Wenzhou Bay and Sanmen Bay⁹. A recent study infers an historical population of c.10,300 individuals⁴, which fell to an estimated low of 288 individuals in 1988 but it appears to have recovered subsequently to a total of 1,679 individuals counted during the 2006 International Black-faced Spoonbill Census¹². Recent censuses show that this total appears to have increased year on year at most important wintering sites, but there has been no increase in Vietnam's Red River Delta, where conditions in the Xuan Thuy National Park have been deteriorating^3,12. It also remains unclear whether census increases represent increased survey effort, displacement of birds from other unknown wintering sites or genuine population increases.

Important Bird Areas Click here to view map showing IBAs where species is recorded and triggers any of the IBA criteria.

Ecology: It breeds in mixed colonies on small islands from March to August⁸. Breeding success is low. It is mainly a crepuscular feeder utilising intertidal mudflats⁷; resting, sleeping and digesting occur at a variety of sites (trees, man-made structure, shallow water) within 2-3 km of feeding areas⁶. Spoonbills employ tactile feeding using lateral sweeps of the bill to locate fish and shrimp prey⁵. Satellite tracking has shown that birds wintering in Hong Kong and Taiwan migrate along the coast of eastern China to northern Jiangsu, then over the Yellow Sea to the Korean peninsula. Wintering birds form large aggregations and it has been recorded amongst flocks of Eurasian Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia¹⁰. It matures at 5 years of age and birds of at least 9.5 years old have been recorded in the wild¹¹.

Threats Recent speculation suggests that pollution from pesticides is most congruent with demographic history, in terms of scale and timing of declines and subsequent recovery, as an explantation of past population reduction⁴. However, habitat destruction is probably the biggest threat currently. The main wintering grounds are threatened by industrial development, particularly a key site in Taiwan and also in China, and reclamation, especially in South Korea, Japan and China. Economic development in China has converted many coastal wetlands into aquaculture ponds and industrial estates. Pollution remains a major threat to birds wintering in Hong Kong. An outbreak of botulism at one of the major wintering sites killed 73 birds representing 7% of the world population from December 2002 to February 2003^1,2. Increasing levels of disturbance by fishers and tourists and also hunting are threats in China and Vietnam⁸. Fishers in China collect waterbird eggs at nesting sites.

Conservation measures underway It is legally protected in China (including Hong Kong), Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea and Japan. Breeding sites in North Korea, at Taegam-do, Unmu-do, Sonchonrap-do and Tok-do, are designated as seabird sanctuaries and sites in China have been declared as non-hunting areas. Protected wintering sites include Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay (Hong Kong), Xuan Thuy and Tien Hai (Vietnam), and Manko (Japan). An action plan was published in 1995 and workshops involving all major range countries were held in 1996 and 1997. Education material, satellite tracking and field survey results and management recommendation have been produced. Annual censuses have been conducted in recent years.

Conservation measures proposed Survey coastal wetlands in China for additional wintering sites. Ensure full protection of the wintering site at Tainan (Taiwan), new breeding sites in China, important wetland sites along the western and southern coast of South Korea, and wintering sites at Hakata Bay and Ariake Bay, Japan. Develop management plans and education programmes for all sites. As pollution has been heavily implicated in the major population reduction that this species suffered, environmental monitoring is recommended as a proactive step to prevent future pollution or disease outbreaks⁴. Continue annual population censuses.

References Birdlife International (2001). 1. M. C. Coulter in litt. (2003). 2. Yu (2003). 3. Yu (2005). 4. Yeung et al. (2006). 5. Swennen and Yu (2005). 6. Yu and Swennen (2004a). 7. Yu and Swennen (2004b). 8. Wei Guo-An et al. (2005). 9. Ding Ping (2002). 10. Yu and Swennen (2005). 11. Yu (2005). 12. Yu and Wong (2006). 13. Litvinenko and Shibaev (2007).

Further web sources of information

Fully detailed species accounts from the Threatened birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book (BirdLife International 2001), together with new information collated since the publication of the Red Data Book

International Black-faced Spoonbill Census - web site maintained by Hong Kong Bird Watching Society

Text account compilers Phil Benstead (BirdLife International), Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Simba Chan (Wild Bird Society of Japan), Mike Crosby (BirdLife International), Matt Harding (BirdLife International), Nic Peet (BirdLife International), John Pilgrim (BirdLife International)

Contributors Malcolm C. Coulter (Wetlands International)

IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Simba Chan (Wild Bird Society of Japan)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Platalea minor. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 10/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife

To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums