Record number of rare spoonbills wing in for the winter
A record-breaking number of black-faced spoonbills are visiting Hong Kong this winter, proving that the Mai Po wetlands remain attractive to the rare visitors, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
WWF Hong Kong said 262 of the water birds had been seen this winter, the highest number since the head-count exercise started in 1992. In 2002, Mai Po recorded 258 black-faced spoonbills.
Mai Po Nature Reserve manager Lew Young said the figures confirmed Hong Kong remained attractive to the birds, which stop at the wetlands on their annual migration from South Korea.
'Although the figures are encouraging, governments and non-governmental groups should step up co-operation to protect the habitats along China's coastal areas because the spoonbills have to travel a long way from home to Hong Kong,' Dr Young said.
He said the spoonbills were under threat from hunting and the destruction of their habitats on the mainland as a result of rapid urban expansion.
The global population of black-faced spoonbills is currently about 1,000. Dr Young said a large-scale survey would be conducted across Asia this month to chart the species' population growth and trace changes in their living habits.
