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Migratory bird sightings decline
(Volume 26, No. 520)
SIGHTINGS of migratory birds at the country’s major wetland sites in early 2010 were down about 30 percent on last year, according to a local conservation group.
Myanmar Bird Association secretary U Thet Zaw Naing said an association survey conducted in January and February showed there were less migratory birds than in previous years.
He said the decrease was an estimate and it was not possible to give precise statistics.
The survey was undertaken by five groups of at least five association members. Birds were surveyed along sections of the Ayeyarwady River, the Tanaing River in Kachin State, Indawgyi Lake in Kachin State, Gulf of Martaban, along the Kaladan River in Rakhine State and in the Ayeyarwady delta, U Thet Zaw Naing said.
He said there were declines across nearly all migratory bird species but none had disappeared completely.
“Sightings of some species of birds, which previously we could find in huge flocks, have now decreased. Wherever you look the numbers have dropped,” he said.
“Previously, ruddy shelducks could be seen in their thousands. Now they can only be seen in small groups here and there. The number of cranes has also decreased drastically.”
Myanmar’s wetlands are a major wintering site for migratory species that follow the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, which spans from Russia and Alaska in the north to Australia and New Zealand in the south and encompasses much of Southeast and East Asia.
The flyway is home to more than 50 million migratory waterbirds from over 250 different populations, including 28 globally threatened species, according to the Partnership for the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, a network of non-government organisations.
The partnership lists habitat loss and degradation, human disturbance, introduced predators, invasive plants and climate change as the main threats to these migratory species.
U Thet Zaw Naing said higher global temperatures and changing weather patterns were affecting migratory bird populations.
“Extreme weather plays a part, as if the weather is too hot it reduces the number of eggs the birds produce,” he said. “Even when the eggs hatch, it is often difficult for the birds to find food for their young.”
He said trapping for food was becoming less of a problem in Myanmar thanks to education programs that the association began shortly after it was founded in 2000.
“The killing of birds does not occur on a large scale and it has almost become non-existent,” he said.
“We are planning to continue our education program in this coming school year. The talks will be carried out at schools located near the wetlands,” he said.
Since 2000 the association has also conducted annual surveys of migratory bird populations. – Translated by Thaung Nyunt
