July 5, 2010 - Largest recorded breeding event of Australian Banded Stilt
It was realised that a rare breeding event of Banded Stilt was likely to take place when the water flows from northern Australia had been observed moving towards the normally dry, salt encrusted, bed of Lake Torrens, along previously dry river beds. Early reports of about 5,000 Banded Stilts nesting at the lake were soon overshadowed when 150,000 – 200,000 stilts moved to the lake. more....
May 2010 - World Migratory Birds Day
“Save migratory birds in crisis – every species counts!”
The Asia Pacific Shorebird Network is pleased to support the Secretariats of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) in the announcement of the countdown for World Migratory Bird Day 2010. This two-day awareness raising campaign will take place globally for the fifth consecutive year from 8-9 May 2010.
World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) aims to inspire people to take action for the conservation of migratory birds and encourages national authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), clubs and societies, universities, schools and individuals around the world to organize events and programmes, which help draw attention to migratory birds around a central theme each year.
This year’s theme is “Save migratory birds in crisis – every species counts!” It is closely linked to the International Year of Biodiversity declared by the United Nations for 2010. The theme is highly relevant to the plight of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann’s Greenshank, the two most threatened species of shorebird in the Asia Pacific. One other species highlighted in the context of this year’s WMBD is the Slender-billed Curlew with potentially less than 50 remaining worldwide.
The WMBD 2010 theme aims to raise awareness on globally threatened migratory birds, with a particular focus on those on the very edge of extinction – the Critically Endangered migratory birds. In line with the International Year of Biodiversity, the 2010 WMBD theme also highlights how migratory birds are part of the biological diversity of our world and how the threat of extinction faced by individual bird species is a reflection of the larger extinction crisis threatening other species and the natural diversity that underpins all life on earth.
With the massive loss of shorebird habitat in the Asia Pacific Region other species are in steep decline and may be heading towards endangered classification unless the governments of the region take decisive action to stop the breakneck speed in which habitat is being lost to coastal development and the drainage of wetlands.
Is the hunting in Myanmar the main cause of decline of Spoon-billed Sandpiper?"
The rapid decline of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper population has led to a series of expeditions to locate the species’ main wintering areas. Surveys conducted in Myanmar during 2008–2010 showed an estimated wintering population of over 200, which is probably more than half the world population. Within Myanmar, the key estuary is the Bay of Martaban. We found extensive evidence of the hunting of waders in all sites visited, mostly by the poorest people in each village. The majority of 26 bird-hunters questioned in 15 villages on the east side of the Bay of Martaban knew of Spoon-billed Sandpipers and most probably catch the species every year. Spoon-billed Sandpipers are not the hunters’ primary target but, along with other calidrids tend to be caught frequently in the mist nets they use for other target species, such as Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva and Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata. It is likely that hunting in the wintering area is the major cause of the species’ decline, which may have been exacerbated by the fact that the Spoon-billed Sandpiper’s core wintering area happens to be an area of high hunting pressure. Urgent action is needed to find ways to give the local hunters economic alternatives to hunting. An awareness campaign will also help to persuade hunters to release Spoon-billed Sandpipers they catch. It is also vitally important to protect the habitats of the Bay of Martaban for its large waterbird populations. Without urgent conservation action we believe that the Spoon-billed Sandpiper will become extinct within 10–20 years.
Spoon-billed Sandpiper Recovery Team
A Spoon-billed Sandpiper Recovery Team has been established, which includes experts and volunteers working on the breeding grounds, flyway stopover sites and non-breeding grounds of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper in an effort to find the key threatening processes of the survival of this critically endangered shorebird and find solutions to its conservation.
Recovery Team News Bulletins now available for, No.1, No.2 , No.3 and the latest update, No.4 .
Spoon-billed Sandpiper Recovery Plan
The SBS Recovery Team have also been responsible for writing a the draft Spoon-billed Sandpiper Action Plan which has been accepted by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). The final version of the Action Plan is imminent and should soon be available on the SBS Website.
May 2010 - World Migratory Birds Day - Book Launch "Invisible Connections"
This book invites you to discover the risks inherent in a shorebird's migratory lifestyle and the additional challenges created by expanding human populations. It reveals the crucial role that the shoreline of the Yellow Sea plays in shorebird migration and highlights the need for this unique and threatened habitat to be saved for future generations of birds and people - more....
May 2010 - The remarkable migratory flights of the Ruddy Turnstone
We have already been amazed at the feats of Bar-tailed Godwits tracked by satellite from Australia and New Zealand to their breeding grounds in the high Arctic tundra via the Yellow Sea and non-stop flights between Alaska and New Zealand on their return. Unfortunately the size of the satellite transmitters and the batteries required to power them preclude their use on smaller shorebirds. However a different technology using a 1 gram light-sensor geolocator has enabled researchers from the Australasian Wader Study Group to track the 27,000 km round trip of Ruddy Turnstones from Australia to their Arctic breeding grounds and back via China on their way north and via Kiribati (the Gilbert Islands) on their return trip across the Pacific. This now opens up the possibility of tracking the migration routes of shorebirds as yet virtually unknown. A full story is available is attached here.
March 2010 - Four Rivers Project in Korea
A proposal by the South Korean Government has once again raised concerns by many of the world’s conservationists for the future of important wetlands as well as threatened species of waterbirds.
The proposal includes the construction of 16 new dams on the main streams of the nation’s four largest rivers and five new dams on their tributaries; the reconstruction of two estuarine barrages; the enlargement of 87 existing irrigation dams; the strengthening of 377 km of river bank; and the dredging of 570 million cubic metres of sand and gravel from a total 691 km of the rivers (most along the Nakdong), with the aim to keep the water 4-6 m deep throughout the year. In addition, bank strengthening, dredging or other refurbishment is also simultaneously proposed for an additional 2,327 km out of 5,778 km of the four rivers' tributaries.
Birds Korea has completed and published a preliminary report on the anticipated impacts of the Four Rivers Project on waterbirds. Click here to view the report.
March, 2010 - New English-language "Chinese Birds" journal launched
Chinese Birds, launched in March 2010, is an international journal of ornithology jointly sponsored by Beijing Forestry University and the China Ornithological Society. The Journal intends to publish primarily original articles, reviews and short communications produced by authors across the world, covering the full spectrum of subjects in ornithology, including research in fossil birds. A special column, "Birds in China", will report research on birds endemic to China, and such manuscripts will be invited regularly. All manuscripts will be peer reviewed.
The cast of the editorial board of the Journal is extensive. Prof. Guangmei Zheng from Beijing Normal University takes the position of Editor-in-Chief. Board members are all reputable scientists from universities, institutes or associations in China, the USA, the UK and Germany. Currently, Chinese Birds has a page-charge-free publishing policy to encourage authors to submit high-quality papers.
Currently, Chinese Birds has a page-charge-free publishing policy to encourage authors to submit high-quality papers.
Our mission We are dedicated to report the latest and significant progress in ornithology and to promote the communication and exchange of ideas among Chinese and overseas ornithologists.
Our vision We hope to foster and shape our journal as a top-tier journal with strong influence to the international ornithology community.
Our value We are committed to the principle of academic freedom and three core values: justice, objectivity and novelty.
You can download the PDF of articles from the website
February, 2010 - Local groups in Thailand push for Ramsar designation of Spoon-billed Sandpiper site
On the outskirts of Bangkok city lies one of the most important areas of tidal wetlands for the Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus. This site, Khok Kham, in the Inner Gulf of Thailand, has been taken a major step towards international recognition and protection as a Ramsar site due to the efforts of local conservation groups.
Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST, BirdLife Partner) supported this movement from the beginning. To date, there are four local conservation groups, working in coordination with BCST on the conservation of the Inner Gulf.
On World Wetlands Day 2010, local people sent a petition to Mr Suvit Khunkitti, Thailand's Minister of the Nature Resources and Environment, requesting that Khok Kham be designated a Ramsar Site. The Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP), the Ramsar Administrative Authority in Thailand welcomed their petition.
Ramsar Site designation in Thailand is a bottom-up process. "Only when local communities see the benefits and commit themselves to safeguarding their local wetland, can it be successfully designated a Ramsar Site", said Gawin Chutima, Chairman of the BCST. Local people have said they see Ramsar designation as a defence against unsustainable development.
Many Inner Gulf sites are still unprotected and under threat. These efforts to conserve and protect this huge area have been supported over the past three years by the Darwin Initiative through a project entitled 'Strengthening partnerships for Ramsar implementation in South-East Asia', and will continue into the future.
"With cooperation and support from the Local Conservation Groups as well as other BirdLife Partners along the East Asian-Australian Flyway, we are certainly not alone", Gawin Chutima, concluded.
February 2, 2010 - World Wetlands Day
The 2nd of February each year is World Wetlands Day. It marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and made an encouraging beginning. It now includes 159 contracting parties and 1,886 Wetlands of International Importance with a total surface area of over 185 million hectares and home to countless waterbirds.
Each year, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular. From 1997 to 2010, the Convention’s Web site has posted reports from more than 98 countries of WWD activities of all sizes and shapes, from lectures and seminars, nature walks, children’s art contests, sampan races, and community clean-up days, to radio and television interviews and letters to newspapers, to the launch of new wetland policies, new Ramsar sites, and new programmes at the national level. Some of these can be seen at the Ramsar website.
Events that were organized as part of WWD can be viewed at The Ramsar Website .
2010 INTERNATIONAL WADER STUDY GROUP ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The 2010 annual conference and workshops of the International Wader Study Group will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, 2-3 October 2010. Further details and registration can be found on the IWSG website
8th AUSTRALASIAN SHOREBIRD CONFERENCE, 2011
The 8th Australasian Shorebird Conference will be held at a date to be determined in Adelaide, South Australia, with an optional field excursion to the Coorong. The theme for the Conference is yet to be finalised and will be announced closer to the date.