Breeding and wintering home ranges of the black-faced spoonbill Platalea minor

Abstract

It is important to the study sites for breeding, wintering, and stopovers of migratory birds to understand their habitat characteristics. Black-faced spoonbills Platalea minor are an internationally endangered migratory bird. The majority of the population breeds on uninhabited islets off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. By using GPS wildlife tracker on five black-faced spoonbill individuals, this study compared the home ranges of black-faced spoonbills in the postfledging stage and investigated the home ranges of their wintering sites. In the postfledging stage, all five black-faced spoonbill individuals occupied home ranges in the coastal area before migrating to wintering sites. The home range sizes (mean ± SD) were estimated to be: 65.81±25.20 km2 using 100% minimum convex polygon, 43.44±11.97 km2 using 95% KDE and 8.09±2.98 km2 using 50% Kernel density estimation. At the wintering sites, the home ranges included the coastal areas and inland areas of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. This study could not directly compare the home ranges of postfledging stage individuals and the home ranges of wintering sites. It was evident, however, that efforts should be made to protect the habitats by minimizing human disturbances in the areas near the home ranges of the breeding and wintering sites described in this study. Keywords: Black-faced spoonbills, Breeding sites, Home range, Migration, Wintering sites