Platalea Leucorodia Research Articles

Re-emergence of Bagaza virus in wild birds from southern Spain

Bagaza virus (BAGV; Orthoflavivirus bagazaense) is an emerging vector-borne flavivirus affecting avian species with severe implications for animal health, and whose zoonotic potential has also been suggested. The aim of the present study was to monitor the epidemic outbreak of BAG in wild birds from Spain in 2021. BAGV cases were confirmed in game bird species, including red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) and common pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) from 24 hunting areas. Suspected cases (clinical signs and/or mortality compatible with BAGV infection but without molecular confirmation) were also detected in 11 additional hunting areas. The outbreaks showed a seasonality mainly restricted to July and August. Estimated morbidity [25.8% (95%CI: 11.3-40.3) in partridges and 8.7% (95%CI: 0.0-18.0) in pheasants] and mortality rates [27.3% (95%CI: 12.5-42.1) in partridges and 13.0% (95%CI: 1.9-24.1) in pheasants] were found in the affected hunting areas. In addition, 215 non-game birds belonging to 46 different species were sampled by passive surveillance upon admittance to rehabilitation centres during 2021. BAGV infection was detected for the first time in green woodpecker (Picus viridis), spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), white stork (Ciconia ciconia) and cynereous vulture (Aegypius monachus), expanding the host range of this emerging pathogen. In contrast to other species, gamebirds showed distinct BAGV related lesions, primarily myocarditis and encephalitis in addition to inflammatory infiltrates and necrosis in the liver and kidney. Molecular analyses revealed a homology of 97.4-98.0% and 92.5-92.7% between the BAGV sequences obtained in the present study (492bp) and those isolated in 2010 and 2019 in southern Spain, respectively. These results allow to hypothesize about the likely silent and endemic circulation of BAGV since 2010 in this European region, although repeated virus reintroduction from neighbouring territories cannot be ruled out. Our findings evidence the sanitary, ecological and conservation implications of the re-emerged BAGV for wild birds, also emphasising the need to increase surveillance for monitoring and early detection of flavivirus dynamics in high-risk areas.

Prehistorical and historical occurrence and range dynamic of the Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) and the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) in Europe

AbstractThe Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) and the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) are emblematic birds of high conservation interest. This article examines their range history in Europe since the end of the last Glacial by analyzing subfossil bone finds of both species, mostly from archaeological excavations. It is shown that two thousand years ago, White Storks occurred exclusively in the territory of the Roman Empire, i.e. the northern border of their distribution ran along the Rhine and Danube rivers. The north-east part of the continent, with its high population density today, was only colonized in the last few centuries. The Spoonbill’s patchy occurrence in Europe today appears to be a typical distribution pattern for this species. The subfossil findings also do not indicate a large, closed distribution area for any phase of the last 10,000 years. Some of its distribution islands (e.g. those in the Netherlands) have existed for thousands of years.

Primary Moult of Eurasian Spoonbills Platalea l. leucorodia in the Wadden Sea in Relation to Age, Breeding and Migration

Primary Moult of Eurasian Spoonbills Platalea l. leucorodia in the Wadden Sea in Relation to Age, Breeding and Migration

Spatiotemporal distribution of Eurasian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) outside the Carpathian Basin – the results of the Hungarian colour-ringing project based on twenty years (2003–2023)

Abstract The Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) is a migratory waterbird. We used the confirmed observations of colour-ringed individuals (2,735 specimens) of the Hungarian population collected outside the Carpathian Basin between May 2003 and February 2023. 546 Spoonbills occurred in 28 countries. They used mainly the Central Mediterranean Flyway, however, some individuals were seen along the East Atlantic Flyway or the East Mediterranean Flyway. Three individuals were observed north of the Alps, too. A small proportion of Spoonbills crossed the Sahara and they occurred in the Sahel zone, between Sudan in the east and Senegal and Mauritania in the west. A few individuals were observed on Saharan wetlands in Algeria during winter. The most important destination for the Hungarian (Pannonian) population during the migration is Tunisia, where many of them spend the winter, primarily in the tidal area of the Gulf of Gabes. The first adults reached North Africa (Tunisia) on 28 July during their southward migration, while the last ones stayed there until 23 April. The first observation of juveniles in North Africa (Tunisia) happened on 31 August. Immature, 2- and 3-cyold birds spend the summer in unknown numbers in Tunisia. The majority of Pannonian Spoonbills migrate through the Balkans and Italy and some stay there to winter, mainly in Italy. Some of the immatures spent the summer in Italy. In southern Europe, the peak of the spring migration was in March, and the peak of the autumn migration was in September. There was also a difference in the migration of different age groups: in Southern Europe, the migration peak of adult birds falls between March and April, while most of the immatures were observed in May and June during northward migration. The peak of the southward migration in all age groups was observed in September. In the southern part of Europe, there may still be adults migrating north on 13 May, while other adults may already migrate southward on 15 May. The earliest juvenile migrating south was documented on 30 June in Italy.

Sex-specific nest attendance rhythm and foraging habitat use in a colony-breeding waterbird

Abstract In most colony-breeding species, biparental care during both egg incubation and chick-rearing is inevitable for successful reproduction, requiring parents to coordinate their nest attendance and foraging time. The extent to which the rhythm of nest attendance is adjusted to temporal and spatial variation in food availability is poorly understood. Here, we investigate whether the rhythm of nest attendance interacts with the spatial and temporal availability of foraging habitats in Eurasian spoonbills Platalea leucorodia breeding on Schiermonnikoog, a Dutch Wadden Sea barrier island. Spoonbills are tactile foragers that forage during both day and night in habitats of varying salinity. GPS-tracking combined with acceleration-based behavioral classification of 9 female and 13 male adult spoonbills between 2013 and 2019 revealed that, despite nearby foraging opportunities following a tidal rhythm, nest attendance followed a sex-specific diel rhythm. During incubation and chick-rearing, females attended the nest at night and foraged during the day, while males showed the reverse rhythm. Females made more and shorter foraging trips to, almost exclusively, nearby marine habitats, whereas the larger males often made long trips to forage in more distant freshwater habitats. Before and after breeding, females as well as males foraged primarily at night, suggesting that this is the preferred period of foraging for both sexes. Nevertheless, foraging habitat use remained sex-specific, being most likely explained by size-dependent foraging techniques. To conclude, the sex-specific rhythm of nest attendance is not shaped by the spatial and temporal availability of foraging habitats.

Relationship between wintering site and survival in a migratory waterbird using different migration routes

When wintering at different sites, individuals from the same breeding population can experience different conditions, with costs and benefits that may have implications throughout their lifetime. Using a dataset from a longitudinal study on Eurasian Spoonbills from southern France, we explored whether survival rate varied among individuals using different wintering sites. In the last 13 years, more than 3000 spoonbills have been ringed as chicks in Camargue. These birds winter in five main regions that vary in both migratory flyway (East Atlantic vs. Central European) and migration distance (long-distance vs. short-distance vs. resident). We applied Cormack–Jolly–Seber models and found evidence for apparent survival to correlate with migration distance, but not with flyway. During the interval between the first winter sighting and the next breeding period, long-distance migrants had the lowest survival, independently of the flyway taken. Additionally, as they age, spoonbills seem to better cope with migratory challenges and wintering conditions as no differences in apparent survival among wintering strategies were detected during subsequent years. As dispersal to other breeding colonies was rarely observed, the lower apparent survival during this period is likely to be partly driven by lower true survival. This supports the potential role of crossing of natural barriers and degradation of wintering sites in causing higher mortality rates as recorded for a variety of long-distance migrants. Our work confirms variation in demographic parameters across winter distribution ranges and reinforces the importance of longitudinal studies to better understand the complex demographics of migratory species.

Habitat utilization of the Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) wintering in the Yancheng National Nature Reserve: relative importance of artificial habitats

Coastal wetlands are among the most modified habitats because of the loss and degradation of tidal flats, resulting in a rapid decline in waterbirds migrating along flyways. Understanding the relative importance of multiple types of wetlands as habitats for waterbirds and the factors influencing their utilization could improve management effectiveness. During the wintering seasons of 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, we documented the distribution of Eurasian spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia), a wetland specialist, in the Yancheng National Nature Reserve (YNNR) and quantified the surrounding environments as influencing factors to assess the relationship between their habitat use patterns and environmental characteristics. Our results showed that spoonbills inhabit common seepweed (Suaeda glauca) marshes, reed (Phragmites australis) ponds, aquaculture ponds, and agricultural channels. Although natural wetlands supported a greater number of spoonbills in the YNNR, spoonbills were able to forage in artificial wetlands. The environmental features where the spoonbills were distributed were found to influence their habitat use, and the most important factor was water depth, followed by species richness and vegetation cover. These results demonstrated that spoonbills rely on both natural and artificial wetlands in the core and buffer zones of the YNNR. Our research thus underlined that conservation interventions of natural and artificial wetlands, such as controlling the water depth and diminishing human activities, might maximize the effects of total conservation outcomes for the Eurasian spoonbills, as well as for various coastal waterbirds with similar ecological requirements.

To the fauna of rare bird species of coastal habitats of Temryuk Bay

New information on the presence of 27 rare, protected or little-studied species and subspecies of birds (greylag and red-breasted geese, common shelduck, gadwall, common pochard, Eurasian oystercatcher, pied avocet, black-winged stilt, Eurasian golden-plover, Eurasian curlew, sanderling, common greenshank, yellow-legged, great black-headed, Mediterranean, slender-billed, and little gulls, Caspian tern, European turtle-dove, great white and dalmatian pelicans, squacco heron, glossy ibis, Eurasian spoonbill, lesser spotted and white-tailed eagles, Eurasian hobby) obtained in the Temryuk region (Eastern Azov region) in different seasons of 2022-2023. The coast of the bay is a stopping place on the spring migration of Eurasian oystercatcher, pied avocet, Eurasian golden-plover, Eurasian curlew, sanderling, common greenshank, common shelduck, slender-billed gull, and Caspian tern; in the fall - pied avocet, sanderling, and Caspian tern. Information about the migration of the sanderling at the end of March has been obtained for the first time. The location of the concentration of Caspian tern and slender-billed gull has been identified. The glossy ibis, the number of which is growing, the black-winged stilt, and the great black-headed gull remain in the spring-summer period in the flooded rice fields. Harvested rice fields provide valuable habitat for Eurasian spoonbills during their fall migration. Information about a large aggregation of red-breasted goose in rice fields in January 2023 is presented for the first time. The great black-headed gull is found on estuaries in all seasons. The common pochard, gadwall, little gull, and Dalmatian pelican stop at the estuaries during the migration period. The migration of the lesser spotted eagle at the end of September and the migration of a large flock of great white pelican in May were recorded in this area for the first time. The squacco heron, which is disturbance tolerant, is common in reed habitats of estuaries and irrigation canals.

Overwintering Cranes, Waders, and Shorebirds versus Ducks and Coots Showed Contrasting Long-Term Population Trends in Caohai Wetland in Guizhou Province, China

The Guizhou Caohai Wetland plays a crucial role as a wintering site for migratory birds in the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau and ranks among the largest wintering spots globally for black-necked cranes (Grus nigricollis). To better understand the factors influencing waterbird populations and ecosystem changes, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of historical waterbird population variations over a 30-year period spanning from 1992 to 2022. The current investigation revealed a downward trend in the abundance index curve of the total number of waterbirds during this observation period. Among the five waterbird guilds examined, dabbling ducks, diving ducks, and coots (Fulica atra) experienced declines in their populations, while wading birds and shorebirds saw an increase. Moreover, we observed a rise in species richness within the community over time, accompanied by smaller compositional changes. Additionally, the findings indicated positive growth trends in wintering endangered species such as black-necked cranes and common cranes (Grus grus) in Caohai. Furthermore, we observed an increase in the occurrence and persistence of rare species, such as Eurasian spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia), black-faced spoonbills (Platalea minor), and black storks (Ciconia nigra) wintering in Caohai. These occurrences suggest that the wetland environment provides favorable conditions for a diverse range of species. Despite the rise in species richness, these trends in the abundance and species composition of wintering waterbirds over the past thirty years are still of concern. This study serves as fundamental scientific support for waterbird conservation and the restoration of ecological wetlands in the Guizhou Caohai Wetland.

Exploring the variation in spoonbill chick diet and trophic niches between traditional and recently colonised sites in Portugal

The Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia is currently experiencing an increasing population trend in Western Europe and colonising areas in its breeding range. In this study we assessed the diet and trophic ecology of spoonbill chicks in Portuguese colonies (Ria Formosa and Tagus Estuary) occupied at different years during the population expansion in the country. We accomplished this by combining diet analysis with blood and feather stable isotopic analysis. Spoonbills from the Portuguese colonies relied mainly (but not exclusively) on crustaceans (Ria Formosa = 75%, Tagus Estuary = 72.5%) and fish (Ria Formosa = 17.11%, Tagus Estuary = 37.50%) to feed their chicks. Crustaceans seems to be the most important prey group. Nevertheless, chicks from Ria Formosa were fed with prey from a higher trophic level than chicks from Tagus Estuary. In both colonies chicks were fed with available in habitats near the colony, although in Tagus Estuary most prey originated from freshwater habitats. Diet of chicks remained constant through the development period and the proportions of crustaceans and fish consumed differed from other colonies elsewhere in Western Europe (Spain and the Netherlands). We conclude that in Portugal, spoonbills feed their chicks with prey commonly found in the vicinity of colonies. Prey originating from artificial habitats, particularly the invasive Louisiana crayfish Procambarus clarkii in the more recently occupied colony, were the most important items in the diet of chicks.

MaxEnt Modeling for Predicting the Potential Wintering Distribution of Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia leucorodia) under Climate Change in China.

Global climate change has become a trend and is one of the main factors affecting biodiversity patterns and species distributions. Many wild animals adapt to the changing living environment caused by climate change by changing their habitats. Birds are highly sensitive to climate change. Understanding the suitable wintering habitat of the Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia leucorodia) and its response to future climatic change is essential for its protection. In China, it was listed as national grade II key protected wild animal in the adjusted State List of key protected wild animals in 2021, in Near Threatened status. Few studies on the distribution of the wintering Eurasian Spoonbill have been carried out in China. In this study, we simulated the suitable habitat under the current period and modeled the distribution dynamics of the wintering Eurasian Spoonbill in response to climate change under different periods by using the MaxEnt model. Our results showed that the current suitable wintering habitats for the Eurasian Spoonbill are mainly concentrated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Distance from the water, precipitation of the driest quarter, altitude, and mean temperature of the driest quarter contributed the most to the distribution model for the wintering Eurasian Spoonbill, with a cumulative contribution of 85%. Future modeling showed that the suitable distribution of the wintering Eurasian Spoonbill extends to the north as a whole, and the suitable area shows an increasing trend. Our simulation results are helpful in understanding the distribution of the wintering Eurasian Spoonbill under different periods in China and support species conservation.

Seasonal Occurrence and Daytime Behaviour of Eurasian Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia leucorodia in Senegal's Atlantic Coastal Areas

Senegal hosts hundreds of wintering Eurasian Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia every year. To contribute to the paucity of knowledge on their distribution and ecology, this study aimed to compare the occurrence and behaviour of spoonbills at the three most important sites in Senegal: Djoudj National Park, Technopôle of Dakar and Palmarin Reserve. Based on monthly counts in 2017 and 2018, Djoudj reached peak numbers of more than 2500 birds in April. The number in Palmarin peaked at 500 birds in October. In both cases this well exceeds the 1% threshold for the East Atlantic Flyway population, but Djoudj can hold up to a sixth of the population. Technopôle is an intermediate site that rarely hosts more than 50 individuals. Based on the scanning of behaviours throughout the day, we show that foraging activity was high early in the morning and decreased towards noon. At Palmarin, Spoonbills spent more time resting (68%) than at Djoudj (50%), allocating less time to foraging (16%) compared with Djoudj (29%). If this indicates favourable wintering habitat at Palmarin, the growing population of Eurasian Spoonbills from Europe may increasingly rely on the Palmarin site during the coming decade.

Prey ingestion rates revealed by back-mounted accelerometers in Eurasian spoonbills

BackgroundQuantifying foraging success in space and time and among individuals is essential for answering many ecological questions and may guide conservation efforts. However, collecting this information is challenging for species that forage on mobile prey and are difficult to observe visually, for example, because they forage in inaccessible areas or at night. In such cases, the use of tracking devices that simultaneously collect location and acceleration data may provide a solution if foraging success can be extracted successfully. The aim of this study was to assess how well searching for and ingesting prey, among other behaviours, could be distinguished from 20 Hz acceleration data collected by GPS/ACC-trackers mounted on the back of Eurasian spoonbills Platalea leucorodia. Upon capturing a prey, spoonbills make a distinct movement with their head and back to throw the prey from the tip of the bill into the throat.MethodsWe compared the behavioural classification performance of random forest models that were trained and tested on video-annotated acceleration data segments of different (fixed or flexible) lengths. The best-performing model was then applied to 4 years of data of spoonbills foraging in the Wadden Sea during the breeding season, to explore seasonal and annual variation in prey ingestion rates.ResultsHighest classification accuracies (as indicated by the F-measure, a balanced measure of precision and sensitivity) of foraging behaviours were achieved by analysing short fixed-length segments (0.4–0.8 s) or “flexibly-cut” segments. The F-measure was very high (> 0.90) for searching, standing, sitting and flying (distinguishing active and passive flight), 0.73 for ingesting prey and 0.65 for walking. False positive and negative prey ingestions were equally likely and most often confused with searching, resulting in a close match between the predicted and observed prey ingestion rates. Application of the best-performing model revealed strong seasonal patterns in prey ingestion rates in the Wadden Sea that varied between years.ConclusionsWe show that prey ingestion rates of spoonbills can be fairly accurately estimated from acceleration data. These results are promising for the use of spoonbills equipped with GPS/ACC-trackers as monitors of spatial and temporal variation in the availability of small fish and shrimp, which is key to understand the foraging and migratory movements of spoonbills and provides information on the quality of (coastal) wetlands.

Relative importance of tidal flats and artificial habitats for two spoonbill species and related interspecific differences

Artificial/seminatural environments, such as aquacultural ponds, saltpans, and croplands, have recently been acknowledged as important habitats for coastal waterbirds. Although coastal waterbirds tend to use artificial habitats around tidal flats as roosting sites during high-tide, it remains unclear whether the importance of surrounding habitats relative to tidal flats varies among landscape types, seasons, species, or tidal conditions. The Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor) and Eurasian Spoonbill (P. leucorodia) are two closely related sympatric species in East Asia with narrow and wide distribution ranges and habitat requirements, respectively. We therefore expect that both species will use surrounding artificial habitats across seasons at high tides, but Black-faced Spoonbills will use them less frequently than Eurasian Spoonbills. Here, we address these hypotheses in the Imazu tidal flat and its surrounding environments in southern Japan. We investigated the habitat use and behavioral patterns of both species through route and behavioral surveys during the fall migration and wintering seasons in 2021. We found that both species used surrounding habitats including artificial ones more frequently than the tidal flat regardless of the tidal condition or season, but spoonbills used these habitats more frequently in winter than in autumn. We also found that Eurasian Spoonbills foraged in surrounding artificial habitats more frequently than Black-faced Spoonbills. These results not only demonstrate how coastal waterbirds exploit surrounding habitats relative to tidal flats but also suggest that the importance of surrounding habitats varies among species and seasons. Our study thus emphasizes that valuing and managing surrounding habitats in addition to tidal flats are key to conserving globally declining waterbirds.

Winter distribution and migratory strategies of Eurasian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) from the Pannonian breeding population: are they long-distance migrants?

In this paper, the wintering characteristics of the Eurasian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) breeding in the Carpathian Basin (Pannonian population) were analysed. The data of 305 wintering Spoonbills marked with colour-rings in Hungary was used. A significant part, 80% of the Spoonbills, wintered in Africa, while 20% spent the winter in Europe and only two birds in the Asian part of western Turkey. The most important wintering sites were in the central part of North Africa (in Algeria, Libya, but mainly Tunisia) and Italy. The tidal area in the Gulf of Gabes in Tunisia was the most important area where a significant proportion, 65% of all wintering Spoonbills, spent the winter. This study provided new evidence of Spoonbills occurring in Saharan wetlands (Chott Tindla in Algeria) in winter. 2% of the resighted Spoonbills were reported from the wetlands of the Sahel in Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal. European winterers were mainly found in Italy and, to a lesser extent, in the Balkans and the Carpathian Basin. The mean distance between the natal colonies and the wintering areas was 1,535 km. Spoonbills migrated in a south-southwestern direction (mean: 213°) to reach their wintering sites. In the Hungarian population, most specimens (94%) were short-distance migrants (wintered north of 22°N), 2% were long-distance migrants, and 4% were residents. However, the proportions of the residents and short-distance migrants are supposed to be overestimated and the proportion of the long-distance migrants is likely to be underestimated due to the lack of observation effort in sub-Saharan Africa. However, based on the winter census data and the proportion of ringed individuals of Hungarian origin in the wintering flocks, I estimated that the lack of observation effort would only slightly modify the result. There were two shifts in migratory strategies on an individual level: a resident Spoonbill became a short-distance migrant, and a short-distance migrant became a long-distance migrant by a following winter. While most of the East Atlantic Spoonbills are long-distance migrants, the results of this study indicate that most birds in the Pannonian population are likely to be rather short-distance migrants. The results of the GPS tracking also confirm that most Pannonian Spoonbills are short-distance migrants and support the main conclusion of this paper.

Habitat selection and ontogeny of habitat use by juvenile Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia revealed by GPS tracking

Summary Despite the widely recognized value of wetlands in providing vital ecosystem services, these are presently being degraded and ultimately destroyed, leading to a decrease in the biodiversity associated with these areas. Some species inextricably linked to wetlands, however, have been increasing and (re)colonizing areas across their range; a notable example being the Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia. In this study we aimed to identify the most important habitats for juvenile spoonbills fledging from a traditional colony in Portugal, located in Ria Formosa, during the period of their life with the lowest survival rates: the first months after leaving the colony. We deployed 16 GPS/GSM tags on juveniles captured in different years (2016 to 2020) and tracked them during post-fledging dispersal and first winter (average 166.4 ± 29.2 SE days). Using Corine Land Cover data, we were able to identify which habitats were most important. Several habitats were used in variable proportions by individuals originating from the same colony, but there was a general trend towards using fewer habitats along the first months of life. Intertidal wetlands were the most used habitat, but anthropogenic habitats such as Wastewater Treatment Plants, saltpans and rice fields were identified as alternative habitats for young spoonbills, and may had contributed to the recent expansion of this species in Portugal.

Observations on parental care of the Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) during the post-fledging dispersal

Abstract The number of available publications on the post-fledging parental care of wading birds (herons, ibises, spoonbills, and storks) and many other bird species is limited. In this study, I summarised the available knowledge collated from the observations of the Eurasian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) in Hungary. A part of the available data is based on observations of colour-ringed individuals. The latest feeding event of a young by its parent was observed at Lake Csaj on 5 October 2020. The youngsters were being fed by their parents for 43 days (observed maximum) during the post-fledging dispersal. However, I estimated that this behaviour could even last for as long as 53 days. The parents lead (care for) their yearlings for 51 days (observed maximum), again I estimated that it could potentially last for a longer period of 63 days. The estimated length of parental care and feeding period could be longer or a little bit shorter during the post-fledging dispersal because it was not possible to follow the life of the families exactly. During parental care (feeding and leading of chicks), the majority of the colour-ringed Spoonbills were observed 2–26 km to the natal colonies of yearlings and the breeding colonies of the adults. However, on some occasions, they were 111–145 km far from those colonies. During the post-fledging dispersal, Spoonbills care for their chicks for a longer time than the European breeding heron species. A possible reason could be that the bills of young Spoonbills are not appropriate for fishing effectively at the beginning of fledging because of their shorter length and their less efficient hydrodynamic effect during lateral sweeping. Another reason could be that Spoonbills are tactile foragers and need more time to learn fishing. Based on data of a juvenile followed by a GPS device, learning the migration route and stop-over sites from parents or experienced adults could be important for Spoonbills, otherwise, young migrating alone with no accomplished individuals may not find the optimal routes and the proper stop-over areas. In the case of Spoonbills, we still do not know exactly the features of parental care during the post-fledging dispersal and have even less data on it during the migration. Thus, I request potential observers along the Adriatic Flyway to record the observations of parent-offspring interactions (feeding by parents, begging) particularly the Hungarian colour-ringed adults and/or young individuals and send data to the author’s e-mail address.

Geographical, Environmental and Anthropogenic Factors Affecting the Occurrence of Wintering Eurasian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) in Morocco

Investigating habitat selection and ecological factors trade-offs is a major avian ecology topic which is closely implicated for conservation purposes. Studies dealing with the impacts of ecological factors on wintering Spoonbills are overall scarce. Here, we used Principal Component Analyses (PCA) and Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) to test the relevance of geographical, environmental and anthropogenic factors in predicting the occupancy and abundance of the Eurasian spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) during 2008-2011 within 28 Moroccan wetlands. The Eurasian Spoonbill mean annual occurrence was 59.2% (± 1.5% SE; 95%CI: 56.3%-62.1%). Among the occupied wetlands, 15 (83.3%) were regularly occupied. We found that the Eurasian spoonbill occurrence was negatively related to distance to coastline, altitude and human presence, whereas its abundance increased significantly with increasing mudflat areas. These findings highlight the significant effect of human presence in selecting wintering sites, but not in the prediction of abundance. Management strategies should therefore address specific attributes of coastal wetlands and should carefully consider the effects of habitat use especially those related to mudflats. We further suggest guidelines for future studies to understand the dynamic of Eurasian spoonbills wintering in the region.

Avifaunal Diversity of Swamythoopu Salt Pan, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India

: In the present study, an attempt was made to find out the Avifaunal diversity in Swamythoopu salt pan, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India. The study was carried out using point count methods with 14 points during the study period from Jan 2021 to March 2021. 3158 birds belongs to 39 families of 15 avian orders were observed from the study area. Passeriformes alone accounted for 25 species of birds observed during the study period. The migratory status of the birds in Swamythoopu salt pan revealed that most of the birds were resident (67) and the winter migrants were around 20 species. The greater number of individuals was observed at the S5 site with 411 individuals and the lowest was 117 individuals. Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensisa “Globally threatened” species were recorded in the study area were considered as “Near threatened” species. Anhinga rufa, Threskiornis melanocephalus Mycteria leucocephala, Plegadis falcinellus, Platalea leucorodia were also documented in the study area.

Vocal Signalling by Eurasian Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia in Flocks before Migratory Departure

We describe a vocal signal and associated postures shown by Eurasian Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia leucorodia just before the departure of (part of) the flock from a site, but also occurring in flight. Onomatopoetically called ‘ook’, it is a soft muffled sound that was noticed in Spoonbills at a stopover site during southward migration in southwestern France and at a post-breeding feeding site in The Netherlands. When making the ‘ook’-sounds, adults as well as juveniles contributed to what looked like dialogues, the sound of the juvenile having a higher pitch than that of the adult. On the basis of their specific occurrence in pre-departure contexts, we propose that the vocalizations function during collective decision-making, perhaps contributing to reach consensus before and during non-routine group movements from one place to another.