The black-faced spoonbill has been classified as one of the world’s endangered species in recent years. According to the results of the “2024 Black-faced Spoonbill Global Synchronous Census”, the global population totals 6,988, an increase of 355 compared to last year, breaking a record. However, the number in Taiwan has declined slightly for the first time. Regarding this, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Service of the Ministry of Agriculture stated that the exact reason is unknown, but when natural habitats are limited, production habitats such as fish ponds are provided as black surface Safe feeding grounds for spoonbills, migratory birds, should be a solution.
When the Black-faced Spoonbill goes into winter from January to March every year, Southeast Asian birdwatchers will observe its wintering conditions in many places and count its numbers. This year’s global census recorded a total of 6,988 black-faced spoonbills. Taiwan is still the largest wintering place for black-faced spoonbills, with a total of 4,135 recorded (59.2%), followed by China with 1,630 (23.3%) and Japan with 702. (10.1%), Hong Kong and Shenzhen (Deep Bay) 375 (5.4%), Vietnam 86 (1.2%), South Korea 39 (0.6%), Macau 13 (0.2%), Philippines 7 (0.1%), Thailand 1 . The global total has increased by 355, and the numbers in all major wintering areas have increased. In comparison, the total number in Taiwan has remained at more than 4,000, but it has decreased slightly by 93 (2.2%) compared with last year.
More than 90% of the black-faced spoonbills that spend the winter in Taiwan are concentrated in the southwestern coastal areas, with Tainan having the largest number of 2,088. The other counties and cities, in descending order, have 887 in Chiayi and 454 in Zhuoshui Creek (Changhua Cloud) Forest junction), Kaohsiung 423, Pingtung 121, Yunlin 93, Yilan 44, Kinmen 10, New Taipei 6, Penghu 5, Changhua 3 and Hsinchu 1, a total of 12 counties and cities have records . Compared with last year, there were 94 more individuals at the mouth of Zhuoshui River in the north and 105 more individuals in Pingtung in the south, indicating that individuals of black-faced spoonbills have spread from their previous distribution core areas to the north (Yunlin) and south (Pingtung). The phenomenon.
However, in view of the fact that the black-faced spoonbill wintering population in Taiwan may face habitat saturation problems, in order to encourage fishermen to provide a waterbird-friendly foraging environment in addition to harvesting, the Forestry Conservation Department will begin to implement the endangered species in 2021. And the important habitat ecological service payment promotion plan includes “land-based fish ponds” as a payment item.
Although the government and civil society are working together to conserve the black-faced spoonbill, the black-faced spoonbill may still face environmental pressure. A total of 86 black-faced spoonbills were rescued from 2023 to 2024, of which 25 were released into the wild after rescue, most of which were poisoned by botulinum toxin. The Forestry Conservation Department stated that the number of black-faced spoonbills has declined slightly in Taiwan. The exact reason is still unknown. With limited natural habitats, it should be necessary to provide production habitats such as fish ponds as safe feeding grounds for migratory black-faced spoonbills. One solution is to call on more fishermen to join the ecological service payment promotion program to maintain a friendly feeding environment for migratory birds during their winter in Taiwan.
Distribution map of Taiwan’s simultaneous census in 2024.Photo: Forestry and Nature Conservation Department, Ministry of Agriculture/Provided
A black-faced spoonbill that was released into the wild after recovery.Photo: Forestry and Nature Conservation Department, Ministry of Agriculture/Provided
