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Botulism incident thought to affect spoonbill numbers

The number of black-faced spoonbills that are arriving in Tainan County to spend the winter is lower than it was this time last year, conservationists reported yesterday.

Conservationists are monitoring the number of arrivals to see if a poisoning incident that occurred last year will affect the population level of the famous but endangered bird.

A Tainan black-faced spoonbill society reported that the number of the birds was 520 as of yesterday morning, while another society recorded 547.

Statistics showed that the number of birds at this time last year was 577, and the conservationists are hoping the next cold front might bring more of the birds to Taiwan.

The conservationists said November is the peak month of the bird's arrival, citing last year as an example. The record number of 707 black-faced spoonbills was recorded in late November last year.

Botulism caused the death of 73 of the spoonbills between late last year and early this year.

The conservationists said that the reproduction rate of the bird is between 8 percent and 12 percent per year, and that extrapolating from the deaths and the reproduction rate, the maximum number of arrivals this year should be around 700.

Each year, a large number of black-faced spoonbills migrate from the Korean Peninsula and northeastern China to the Chiku wetlands to spend the winter.

The death of so many of the birds last year was the first known incident of that kind in this species.

Meanwhile, the possibility of botulism poisoning was ruled out in the death of a black-faced spoonbill found at the Chiku wetland sanctuary near the estuary of the Tsengwen River in Tainan County on Nov. 3.

The exact cause of that death has yet to be determined.
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