Carrie Ma
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WWF Yangtze Waterbird Survey Reports
« on: Mar 17th, 2006, 8:55pm » |
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Message from Asia Pacific Migratory Waterbirds.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Barter
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2006 8:49 PM
To: APMW Listserver
Subject: [APMW] WWF Yangtze Waterbird Survey Reports
Hi!
The bi-lingual 2005 WWF Yangtze Waterbird Survey Report has been published recently and copies can be obtained by sending a request with your name and postal address to Ms. YANG Qin QYang@wwfchina.org at WWF China.
The 2004 Report can be downloaded in separate Chinese and English PDF versions from http://www.wwfchina.org/aboutwwf/whatwedo/freshwater/index.shtm. This is in Chinese, but the links are quite obvious on the right hand side of the page. Contact me if you have any problems downloading and I will send the English file.
Below is the original posting (made in March 2005) of the 2005 survey results, including some comments on the differences between 2004 and 2005.
RESULTS OF THE WWF 2005 WATERBIRD SURVEY OF THE MIDDLE AND LOWER REACHES OF THE YANGTZE RIVER
WWF has recently conducted the second comprehensive waterbird survey along the floodplain of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River stretching through Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu to Shanghai. The first count was conducted in February 2004.
There were two count objectives this year. Firstly, to visit wetlands missed in 2004 and, secondly, to check key areas identified in 2004 to see if changing water levels affected waterbird distribution.
The count took place over a two-week period, shortly after Chinese New Year. The count teams consisted of staff from nature reserves, provincial and county forestry bureaus, universities, and volunteers from non-government organisations.
SUMMARY
The survey teams counted 635,967 waterbirds of 95 species. Individual Province counts were: Jiangxi – 226,175, Anhui – 158,743, Hunan – 110,566, Hubei – 82,104, Jiangsu – 38,361 and Shanghai Municipality – 20,018.
Fourteen globally-threatened species and one near-threatened species were found during the survey.
The most common species group was the Anatidae (ducks, geese and swans) comprising 67% of the waterbirds counted; next were shorebirds (16%), egrets and herons (5%), and gulls (4%).
The 2005 survey confirmed the exceptional importance of the floodplain wetlands for many waterbird species and showed that waterbird distribution had changed considerably due to the different water levels in 2005 compared to 2004.
GLOBALLY-THREATENED SPECIES
The count of Swan Geese (61,178 individuals) exceeded the current estimate of the global population (55,000).
The numbers of Lesser White-fronted Geese counted (8,636) represented 62% of the estimated flyway population.
Large numbers of cranes were seen: 90% of the global population of the Siberian Crane (2,693 individuals counted) and 37% of the regional population of the White-naped Crane (1,491). The numbers of Hooded Cranes seen (1,08 exceeded the estimated flyway population (1,000).
40% of the global population of the Oriental White Stork (1,194 individuals) was counted.
Other globally-threatened species seen in smaller numbers were: Black Stork (61), Scaly-sided Merganser (44), Saunders’s Gull (34), Baer’s Pochard (, Black-faced Spoonbill (4), Swinhoe’s Rail (2), Relict Gull (2) and Dalmatian Pelican (1). 123 individuals of the near-threatened Ferruginous Duck were counted.
OTHER WATERBIRD SPECIES
The most common waterbird recorded was the Bean Goose (104,519). Other species counted in large numbers were Tundra Swan (65,114), Swan Goose (61,17, Common Teal (43,037), Dunlin (41,744), Spot-billed Duck (29,210), Greater White-fronted Geese (26,494), Common Black-headed Gull (22,616), Pied Avocet (20,636), Black-crowned Night-Heron (16,934), Falcated Duck (14,763), Mallard (13,884) and Common Coot (12,414).
The numbers of Eurasian Spoonbill (6,853) exceeded the estimated flyway population (6,500). Species present in large percentages of their estimated flyway populations were: Bean Goose (91%), Tundra Swan (77%), Black Stork (61%), Falcated Duck (42%), Pied Avocet (21%) and Greater White-fronted Goose (20%).
COMPARISON WITH 2004 SURVEY
120,000 more waterbirds were counted in 2005 compared to 2004, and an additional 12 species (95 vs. 83) were identified. This increase was mainly due to improved coverage in Jiangxi, Hubei and Shanghai.
There were very large increases in the counts of Tundra Swans (65,114 in 2005 vs. 30,925 in 2004) and Bean Geese (104,519 vs. 79,75.
Waterbird distribution changed greatly between the two years due to significantly different water levels – demonstrating the importance of ensuring that sufficient waterbird habitat is protected to allow for variations in waterbird dispersal between years.
We are very grateful to the State Forestry Administration, the Provincial Forestry Bureaus, Nature Reserve staff and the members of the counting teams for their assistance in the planning and execution of the project.
WWF China
Posted by Mark Barter markbarter@optusnet,com.au
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