關於黑臉琵鷺!(英文)

The Black-faced Spoonbill is a large white wading bird with a distinctively shaped beak - looking like a spoon, or a pi pa. The facial skin is bare and black in colour - hence its name. It is about 76 cm long and weighs about 1 kg.

The Black-faced Spoonbill is a 'endangered' species - this means that it is 'in danger of extinction'.

It is estimated that the world population is about 1,400 birds.

In winter it occurs along the coast from Korea and Japan to northern Vietnam. The main wintering sites are at the Tseng Wen Estuary, Taiwan (up to 757 birds) and the Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay Ramsar Site, Hong Kong (up to 350 birds). Small numbers (1-20 birds) occur at other coastal locations.

The only known breeding area is on rocky islands off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula where about 30 pairs nest.

The Black-faced Spoonbill feeds on fish and shrimps in shallow water, mainly in coastal areas. Most of the East Asian coast is subject to very heavy pressure from high human populations and associated agricultural and industrial activities, resulting in habitat destruction and pollution. The Tseng Wen Estuary, Taiwan is threatened by a major industrial project, and pressure on the Deep Bay area in Hong Kong continues to grow.

The Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor) is a globally endangered species and its known population is less than 1000 individuals (BirdLife International 2000). Studies for discovering its migration route were conducted in 1998 and 1999 (Ueta et al. 2002). A total of 34 Black-faced Spoonbills (22 from Hong Kong and 12 from Taiwan) were trapped and given colour rings.

On 5 and 6 November 2002, I found two colour-ringed Black-faced Spoonbills in Mai Po, which did not carry Hong Kong rings. One spoonbill carried a short blue ring on the left leg and a long blue ring with white words ‘T11’ on the right leg on 5 November. The bird also carried a transmitter on the back as the antenna was visible. The other bird was seen on 6 November and carried a small yellow ring on the left leg and two short rings on the right leg, which were red above and green below.

From various references, the ‘T11’ bird received the rings from Taiwan in December 1998 (Ueta et al. 1999) and the ‘three-ringed’ bird was ringed as a chick in the nest in North Korea in July 1995. These are the first recorded sightings of ‘overseas’ Black-faced Spoonbills in Hong Kong. Spoonbills ringed in Mai Po have been seen again in Mai Po (Anon. 2001), in the Tsengwen Estuary of Taiwan (Yu pers. obs.) and at Liaoning (Lei 2002). The three-ringed spoonbill was first found in Japan, in December 1995. I then saw it in Xuan Thuy, Vietnam in December 1999 (Yu and Swennen pers. obs.). This is therefore the first record of an individual of this species visiting three different wintering sites. In addition, this bird, which is now 7 years old, provides the first longevity record for this species.