FWD: Counting birds

June 17, 2004

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This article is from The Star Online

URL:

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/6/15/features/8075051 & sec=f\

eatures

________________________

Tuesday June 15, 2004

Counting birds

By HILARY CHIEW

Waterbirds undertake annual migration along flyways that span the breath and

length of the globe. The Asian Waterbird Census (1997-2001) shows how the layman

can help in the conservation of these birds and the wetlands that they depend on

for survival, by collecting data on waterbird population, distribution and

status in the wild.

EVERY January, scores of bird enthusiasts from different parts of the

Asia-Pacific region flock to estuaries, rivers, lakes, tidal mudflats and

man-made wetlands like rice fields, sewage ponds and ash ponds at power

stations, to greet their feathered friends.

Wetland-dependent birds such as egrets, ibises, cranes, geese, ducks, herons

and storks make pit-stops at these habitats on their long flight to escape the

bitter winter in their breeding grounds of Siberia and northern Asia.

This has been a pilgrimage of sorts for die-hard birdwatchers for a long time.

However, since 1987 these birdwatchers are doing more than just admiring the

beauty of these waterbirds. Many are engaged in a very important task –

identifying the birds and counting their numbers. In so doing, they collect

field data that shed light on the migratory nature of the birds and provide a

monitoring system on the birds’ status in the wild.

Their collective efforts are coordinated under an international programme

called the Asian Waterbird Census (AWC). These birdwatchers are joined by their

counterparts in Africa, Europe, Central and West Asia, and Latin America, who

contribute data to the International Waterbird Census (IWC) organised by

Wetlands International. The IWC is the largest and longest running faunal

monitoring programme in the world.

The AWC covers the following regions: South Asia, South-East Asia, East Asia

and Australasia. Over 1,000 volunteers carry out the counts and forward the data

to a national coordinator who then collates the data before forwarding them to

the international coordinator, Wetlands International.

According to the Wetlands International report, Numbers and distribution of

waterbirds and wetlands in the Asia-Pacific region – Results of the Asian

Waterbird Census: 1997-2001, more than 5,700 sites from 26 countries have been

counted at least once, since AWC’s inception on the Indian sub-continent 17

years ago.

The five-year Census surveyed 1,392 sites in 22 countries at least once. This

included 61 wetlands of international importance or popularly known as Ramsar

sites, 32 Migratory Waterbird Network Sites in the East Asian-Australasian

Flyway and 43 Important Bird Areas, with the highest count of 4,571,522 birds

from 770 sites registered in 2001.

The Census reported that 82 sites in 10 countries supported more than 20,000

birds each and of the 82, 22 are Ramsar sites.

A total of 291 species of waterbirds and 15 species of wetland-dependent

raptors were recorded. Thirty-seven species were recognised as globally

threatened: two critically endangered, 11 endangered and 24 vulnerable.

“Good coverage of at least 14 congregatory threatened species like the

Spot-billed Pelican, Oriental Stork, Black-faced Spoonbill, Lesser White-fronted

Goose, Siberian Crane and Saunders’ Gull, reinforces the value of the Census in

monitoring the distribution and abundance of these threatened populations,” said

the report.

A review of the data on uses and threats to sites reporting more than 20,000

waterbirds, reveals that encroachment of farmland, vegetation overgrowth,

pollution and siltation are direct impacts of human activities. Of concern, it

notes, is the partial or complete reclamation of a small proportion of these

important sites.

Vital report

The report is not without its shortcomings though, as the level of development

of the AWC differs from country to country. Nevertheless, co-author of the

report David Li Zuo Wei reckons that the data are invaluable. According to Li,

the AWC field data are instrumental in the formulation of protection strategies

for the waterbirds and their habitats as the report is widely referred to in key

international agreements.

Indeed, the significance of the report is clearly appreciated by

conservationists too.

“With the increasing link-up with waterbird monitoring schemes in North

America, the AWC is becoming global in its scope, and it is probably the only

global wildlife monitoring scheme of its kind,” said Peter Bridgewater,

secretary-general of the Convention on Wetlands. “It not only identifies key

wetlands for waterbirds but also permits assessment of the status and trends of

waterbird populations at the bio-geographical scale.”

Otherwise known as the Ramsar Convention, the oldest global environmental

convention has given particular attention to waterbirds, since its inception

stemmed from widespread concern over the destruction of wetlands and the impact

of this destruction on waterbirds and other components of biological diversity.

Three of the eight criteria for selecting a Ramsar site relate to waterbirds:

that the site supports vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered species;

regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds; and regularly supports 1% of the

global population of one species or subspecies of waterbird.

Bridgewater also noted that nowhere is the continuing loss and deterioration of

both coastal and inland wetlands greater than in Asia, owing to the needs and

demands of the region’s large and growing population.

As far as the conservation of migratory species is concerned, the AWC has been

instrumental in the development of the Asia-Pacific Migratory Waterbird

Conservation Strategy and the initiative on the Central Asian Flyway, led by

Wetlands International.

Arnulf Muller-Helmbrecht, executive secretary of the Convention on Migratory

Species (CMS), said that data from the AWC and the global IWC programme provided

an important baseline for CMS in promoting the conservation and management of

migratory waterbirds and their habitats.

“Information collected by the Census contributes to the updating of the status

of the species listed in CMS’ Appendices and to the identification of new

species to be listed,” said Muller-Helmbrecht. He added that the IWC had

resulted in the development of the African Eurasian Migratory Waterbird

Agreement (AEWA), the most ambitious agreement established under the aegis of

the Convention.

The AWC data have been used extensively by BirdLife International, the official

Red List Authority on birds, to update the status of globally threatened

waterbirds in Asia.

Li asserts that whilst the AWC is able to provide information for the

conservation of threatened species, its main aim is to monitor the trends of

numerous widespread species for which changes in status and distribution would

otherwise go unnoticed.

Voluntary service

In Malaysia, about 80 sites, mainly in the peninsula, have been covered and 103

species recorded, including seven globally-threatened species and five

near-threatened species, by a network of volunteers mobilised by the Malaysian

Nature Society (MNS), the national coordinator of AWC.

Spearheaded by the society’s ornithology officer Yeap Chin Aik, a pool of about

30 birdwatchers carried out the census for three consecutive years from 1999.

Perhilitan, which had been active in the Census in the 1980s and 1990s,

rejoined the network last year.

“Perhilitan officers cover areas where we don’t have a strong presence like

Pahang and Johor. Our volunteers’ strength is in Penang, Perak and Selangor. In

East Malaysia, we rely on an active Kuching-based member who mobilises a small

group of volunteers to cover important sites in Sabah and Sarawak,” said Yeap.

The three-year count identified Kapar Power Station in Klang, the Matang

mangrove forest in Perak and Bako-Buntal Bay in Sarawak as the three most

crucial areas for migratory waterbirds with counts exceeding 1,500 individuals

for every single counting event.

The Kapar Power Station has since joined the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, a

migratory waterbird network of sites that includes Australia, China, Japan,

Russia and Asean countries.

Yeap says the beauty of the census lies in the spirit of voluntarism and its

contribution to environmental protection. It shows that volunteers can play a

role at the global conservation level. Training of volunteers has been

identified as a top priority along with the development of site support groups,

says Yeap.

Four Ramsar sites in the peninsula have not been included in the count. Tasik

Bera, the biggest inland freshwater lake in the peninsula was declared the

country’s first Ramsar site in 1995, followed by three neighbouring sites,

Tanjung Piai, Sungai Pulai and Pulau Kukup in south-west Johor, in February last

year.

“As the AWC is a massive effort, we need to optimise our limited resources.

Waterbirds begin migration from October and by January they would have decided

where to spend the winter. We call on volunteers to conduct the count in January

because it is deemed the most stable time to assess the population as there is

less likelihood of duplication,” explains Li.

The Census highlighted among others the diminishing Milky Stork population of

Pulau Kelumpang at the Kuala Gula mangrove forest in the Matang Forest Reserve.

If the last official inventory done by Perhilitan in 2001 is any indication,

the population at Pulau Kelumpang, the only known roosting site of the

globally-threatened stork in Malaysia, is declining at an alarming rate from 36

in 2001 to eight this year.

Continuous monitoring of sites provided under the Census is needed to

underscore the threats and influence conservation work on the ground to ensure

the waterbirds’ survival in the face of habitat destruction.

Hopefully the waterbirds can regain some lost ground.

If you wish to participate in the Asian Waterbird Census, contact Yeap Chin Aik

of Malaysian Nature Society (03-22879422 / e-mail: <a

href= " kcayeap " >kcayeap</a>).

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