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Urdaibai Bird Center has recently begun the first stages of a Eurasian Spoonbill Recovery Project. The wetland in front of the Urdaibai Bird Center is ideal for a project of these characteristics as the habitat is in excellent condition and there is plenty of food available for the birds. In addition to this, it is a peaceful place and its location next to the Center makes it is easy for staff to monitor the birds.
The main aim of the project is to establish a breeding colony of spoonbills in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, thus maximising their role as a key species in the estuary. Morover, a nesting spoonbill colony would be a very useful resource for environmental education.
The project has begun with the translocation of 5 chicks from the 'Zoobotánico de Jerez de La Frontera', an organization with a great deal of experience in the handling of the species in captivity before their release into the natural environment. The parents of the translocated chicks hatched in the 'Zoobotánico de Jerez' from eggs which had been rescued from the Odiel marshes (Huelva) at the end of the last century. The translocation of these young spoonbills to Urdaibai has been made possible thanks to the aforementioned 'Zoobotánico de Jerez de La Frontera', 'El Refugio de Fauna de Basondo' (Kortezubi) and 'La Diputación Foral de Bizkaia'.
In a few weeks time, these spoonbills will be joined by six indivividuals, all of which come from the 'Bioparc-zoo de Doue-la-Fontaine' (Maine y Loira, Francia).
The Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) is a wading bird characteristic of large, shallow wetlands. Having suffered a sharp decline for many years, European populations of Eurasian spoonbills have been making a gradual recovery since the the middle of the last century. The species is currently included in the category of Least Concern worldwide and its breeding population is listed as Vulnerable in the Red Book of Spanish birds.
Thanks to their protection and the regeneration of wetlands, the population of spoonbills along the eastern Atlantic Flyway has increased in recent decades, creating new colonies and recolonizing countries such as France, Germany or England where they had become extinct due to persecution and habitat alteration. However, the current breeding area is still clearly less extensive than the one it occupied in ancient times and there are still no breeding nuclei in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. This project aims to contribute to the conservation of this species by promoting the creation of a new breeding nucleus.
We would like to thank the following collaborators in this project:
El Gobierno Vasco, La Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, El Zoobotánico de Jerez de La Frontera, El Refugio de Fauna de Basondo (Kortezubi)
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