Mai Po Logo: Pied Kingfisher |
|
 |
A Hong Kong Black-faced Spoonbill seen in Macau
 |
On 16 November
2003, one of the Black-faced Spoonbills that had been caught
and individually marked with plastic coloured rings at Mai
Po in December 2002 as part of a study on their habitat use
in Deep Bay, was seen at the wetlands between Taipa and Coloane
in Macau. This is the first confirmed record of a Black-faced
Spoonbill that had been wintering at Mai Po, flying to and
using the wetlands in Macau in a following year. |
The number of Black-faced Spoonbills spending
the winter in the Taipa - Coloane wetlands has been gradually increasing
since the early 1990s, with a record of 46 individual being recorded
during the winter of 2002/ 2003. However, the area of these wetlands
has also decreased over the same period because of reclamation for
development. At present, only a 15 ha marsh and a 45 ha of inter-tidal
mudflat now remains and the Macau SAR Government is proposing that
these be designated as a protected area. It is hoped that the Macau
Government will now carry out proactive management of these areas in
a scientific manner, so as to maintain the areas' international importance.
Development of the land around these wetlands must also be conducted
in a sympathetic manner so that their impacts can be minimized.
The Taipa - Coloane wetlands are also important
for other migratory waterbirds. In recent years, there have been sightings
of migratory shorebirds that had been individually colored marked in
northern Australia with plastic rings on their legs, using the Macau
wetlands whilst on migration to their breeding grounds in the Russian
Far East.
|
