Australasian Flyway: Significance for Australian Wader Study Groups
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Threatened shorebird species of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway: significance for Australian wader study groups DAVID MILTON Australasian Wader Studies Group and Queensland Wader Study Group Committee member, 336 Prout Rd., Burbank4156 QId., Australia, e-mail: pitta @gil.com.au Milton, D. 2003. Threatenedshorebird species of the East Asian-AustralasianFlyway: significancefor Australianwader studygroups Wader StudyGroup Bull. 100:105-110. The EastAsian-Australasian Flyway hasthe dubiousdistinction of havingmore threatened shorebird species than all otherflyways combined.I summarisethe speciesat risk in the flyway and where they occur.Most are residentspecies that are foundin few countries.Their distribution,abundance and habitatrequirements are poorly known or understood.This is hamperingconservation efforts and reducingtheir effectiveness. Over the last 20 years,the very active volunteerwader studygroups in Australia and New Zealand have focussedtheir activitieson counting,banding and flaggingthe abundantmigratory species. The distribution, abundanceand habitats of mostof thesespecies in Australiaand New Zealandare now quite well understood. Therefore,it seemstimely that the wader studygroups should reassess the value for shorebirdconservation of continuingstudies of the commonermigrants at the samelevel of intensity.I suggestthat the large body of valuabletechnical expertise in wader ecologythat is foundin thesegroups could have greaterconserva- tion impactif they adopteda more flyway-wide focuson speciesthat are underthreat. INTRODUCTION potentialto achievea betterreturn on fundsbecause of the free volunteer labour. The quality and biodiversityof the world's naturalenviron- In Australia, there are severalvolunteer "Wader Study mentsare declining rapidly as the human population increases. Groups"whose objectivesinclude undertakingscientific Water is onecommodity that is becomingscarcer as the com- studies of shorebirds to enhance shorebird conservation. One petitionbetween humans and environmental requirements in- of the objectivesof the AustralasianWader StudiesGroup, crease. Birds such as shorebirds that use natural weftands are for example, is to "formulate and promotepolicies for the comingunder increasing threats of extinctionas their habitats conservationof waders and their habitat, and to make avail- arereduced or modified(Melville 1997).Migratory shorebirds ableinformation to local andnational governmental conser- areparticularly vulnerable because they undertake long flights vationbodies and other organisations to encourageand assist andso require adequate food, before, during and after migra- them in pursuingthis objective"(Gosbell 2002). tion for the speciesto surviveand breed. To date, the main way in which this objectivehas been Thereare six shorebirdFlyways currently recognised and fulfilled hasbeen highlighting the plight of shorebirdsin spe- the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) is one of the cific coastalland-use conflicts that impact shorebird feeding largest,with an estimateof over 5 million birds(Priest et al. or roostinghabitats. Mostly this has involved the groupin 2002). The birdsin EAAF breedin NE Asia andadjacent NW writing lettersof concernto the appropriateauthorities. Two North America (Fig. 1). The majority(>70%) of birdsbreed- notableexceptions are the work of Mark Barter and Doug ing in theseregions migrate southwards to spendthe non- Watkinsin surveyingshorebirds and identifyingsignificant breedingseason in Australiaand New Zealand,where they habitatsin easternChina and the Yellow Sea (Barter 2002) occurin mostlycoastal habitats. Potentially, of all the world's and studiesof AustralianPainted Snipes by Danny Rogers shorebirds,these are the speciesat highest risk as their andothers who havehighlighted population declines in this migratoryroutes through E Asia are in closeproximity with speciesand its distinctivebiology (Lane & Rogers2000, someof the largestconcentrations of humansanywhere. This Hassell& Rogers2002) (for scientificnames of the species is an area whereintertidal habitats are frequentlyreclaimed mentionedin this paper,please refer to Table 1). for human use (Barter 2002, Melville 1997). However,several other species of shorebirdin the Flyway Given the largenumber of threatsfaced by shorebirdsin are alreadyat risk. Theseneed specificactions now, before the EAAF and the limited resourcesavailable to mitigate theirpopulations decline below a minimumviable level. One these risks, conservation effort needs to be focussed on the meansof identifying shorebirdsunder threat is to use the speciesmost underthreat or risk of declinein the future. In criteria of the International Union for the Conservation of the region, many national and regionalbodies are increas- Nature (IUCN) (BirdLife International 2000, Garnett & ingly usingnon-government organisations, including volun- Crowley 2000). teerconservation groups to undertakesurveys and implement The aim of this studyis (1) to summarisethe ecological threatmitigation. This has severalbenefits to the funding riskassessments of the resident and migratory shorebirds that agencies,including broader community participation and the use the East Asian - AustralasianFlyway and (2) to review 105 Bulletin100April2003 106 Wader Study Group Bulletin MajorRoutes of East Asian-Australasian MigratoryShorebird Flyway Papua New GUinea Indonesia Australia New Zealand Figure 1. Map showingthe extent of the East Asian-AustralasianFlyway. thoseassessments in the light of the recentfocus of volun- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION teer conservationeffort in the Flyway by Australianwader studygroups. The EastAsian-Australasian Flyway (Fig. 1) hasat least95 shorebirdspecies that regularly occur in theFlyway (Table 1). METHODS Of these,48 species,or over 50% are migratory,with most spendingtheir non-breedingseason in Australia(Table 2). Shorebirdsthat are regularly recorded in theEast Asian-Aus- Of the threeregions identified, continental Asia hasthe larg- tralasianFlyway were identifiedfrom variouslistings such estnumber of residentspecies, followed by Australia.How- as Watkins (1993), Priest et al. (2002) and Hayman et al. ever, New Zealand has the greatestnumber of threatened (1987). Specieswere separatedinto threegroups according speciesand only oneresident species is not undersome level to the locationwhere they spendtheir non-breedingseason of ecologicalrisk (Table 2). - Australia, New Zealand or SE Asia. Australia and New Zealandwere treated separately for two reasons:(1) Australia Australia is the final destinationof the majority of migratory shore- birds using the Flyway and (2) New Zealand has a large Migratory species number of endemic resident shorebirds that are all under a degreeof threat.Within each group,species were identified Of the 54 speciesthat are residentor migrate regularly to as migratoryor residentdepending on the degreeof move- Australia,none of themigratory species have been identified ment betweencountries. Species where the majorityof the as being at significantrisk. Of the two migratory species populationsremain within the breedingrange were consid- identified as near-threatened, Eastern Curlew and Asian ered resident. Dowitcher,only Eastern Curlew occur in significantnumbers Bulletin 100 April 2003 Mdton. Threatened shoreb•rdspecies of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway 107 Table 1. The shorebirdspecies that occur in the East Asian-AustralasianFlyway that are residentor regularlymigrate to Australia or SE Asia for their non-breedingseason (Priest et al. 2002) and their level of ecologicalrisk (BirdLifeInternational 2000). Non- Population Common name Scientific name IUCN classification Major threats breeding status distribution Australia Resident AustralianPainted Snipe Rostratulaaustralis Vulnerable Habitat loss Australian Pratincole Stiltia isabella - BandedLapwing Vanellustricolor - Banded Stilt Cladorhynchusleucocephalus - Beach Stone-curlew Esacusneglectus Near threatened Disturbance of nesting Black-fronted Dotterel Elseyornis melanops - Black-winged Stilt Himantopushimantopus - Bush Stone-curlew Burhinusgrallarius Near threatened Nestingpredation, habitat loss Comb-crestedJacana Irediparra gallinacea - Hooded Plover Thinornis rubricollis Near threatened Nestingpredation Inland Dotterel Charadrius australis - Masked Lapwing Vanellusmiles - Pied Oystercatcher Haematopuslong, irostris - Plains-wanderer Pedionomustorquatus Endangered Habitat loss Red-cappedPlover Charadriusruficapillus - Red-kneed Dotterel Erythrogonys cinctus - Red-necked Avocet Recurvirostra novaehollandiae - Sooty Oystercatcher Haematopusfuliginosus - Migrant Asian Dowitcher Limnadromussemipalmatus Near threatened Non-breedinghabitat loss Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica - Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa - Broad-billedSandpiper Limicolafalcinellus - Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia - Common Redshank Tringa totanus - CommonSandpiper Actitushypoleucos - Curlew Sandpiper Calidrisferruginea - Double-banded Plover Charadrius bicinctus - EasternCurlew Numeniusmadagascariensis Near threatened Non-breedinghabitat loss Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris - Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultii - Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola - Grey-tailedTattler Heteroscelusbrevipes - Latham'sSnipe Gallinagohardwickii - Lesser Sand Plover Charadrius mongolus - Little Curlew Numenius minutus - Long-toedStint Calidris subminuta - Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis - Oriental Plover Charadrius veredus - Oriental Pratincole Glareola maldivarum - Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis