(KH) WWF, WCS, Birdlife partnership to save rare Ibises in Cambodia

[Guest guest]

http://khmernz.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-bird-count-finds-more-rare-ibises.html

 

Thursday,August 27, 2009

New bird count finds more rare ibises in

Cambodia

 

<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kWKqQEHEdf0/SpWQrOjhUDI/AAAAAAAAf1M/PxIAMa-pGjc/s1600\

-h/1199.jpg>

*In this Nov. 2, 2006 photo released by wildlife conservation groups of BirdLife

International, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and World Wildlife Fund for

Nature (WWF), White-shouldered Ibis perch on branches of a tree in Phnom Penh,

Cambodia.

(AP Photo/BirdLife International, WCS, WWF)

 

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS August 26, 2009

 

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA A new bird census has found that Cambodia is home to more

endangered white-shouldered ibises than had been thought were in existence

worldwide, three conservation organizations said Wednesday.

 

A joint statement from BirdLife International, the Wildlife Conservation

Society and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature said 310 of the wading birds

were found in the country's north and northeast during research carried out in

July.

 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, had estimated

this year that from 50 to 249 mature white-shouldered ibises were in

existence worldwide, making the species critically endangered.

 

Hugh Wright, a PhD student at Britain's University of East Anglia who has

been leading the research for 18 months, said there was a good chance that

the actual population exceeded 310.

 

" Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the population has increased or is

recovering, instead we are just starting to make more effort to count them

and searching in more places, " he said.

The statement did not mention any plans to expand their research.

 

The birds, considered endangered by the World Conservation Union, have a

dark plumage with a pale blue collar and an off-white patch on the

forewings, according to the Web site of the IUCN.

 

They are found mainly in Cambodia although they were once common in other

Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and

Indonesia, it said.

 

The statement said that it was not yet clear why the bird's numbers have

been in decline in the last few decades, " although hunting and habitat

destruction are likely to have played a part. " It said they will conduct a new

count in Cambodia in September.