Asian songbirds in trouble

Posted on by

This video about Asia says about itself:

In this video you will see a pair of Purple-rumped Sunbirds, Black-headed Golden Oriole, Oriental Magpie, Common Myna, Asian Koel and Brown-headed Barbet.

All these birds I was able to film them while travelling on the road and capturing them from the roadside. Therefore you might also hear the sound of vehicles in the background 🙂 It would have been great if I was able to capture these birds & calls in more quieter surroundings like most of my other nature videos. But I hope that you were still able to enjoy these video with the birds and their calls.

There is another variety of birds which I really like most – The Barbets. There are many species of Barbets but I was never able to get a clear capture of them. They are great fruit lovers and at the end you will see a Brown-headed Barbet. But unfortunately due to some branches of a tree I was not able to film him clearly. He is a very beautiful bird with green colours, thick beak and big yellow eyes. The call is also very unusual. I hope that you will enjoy these birds.

From BirdLife:

Asian songbird migrants in trouble

By Martin Fowlie, Mon, 16/02/2015 – 09:25

Migratory songbirds in East Asia are in trouble, according to new research. The study calls for national action and international cooperation to deal with threats, as well as more monitoring and research to help understand and protect this unique migration system.

The East Asian-Australasian Flyway, running from Siberia and Alaska down to South-East Asia and Australia, supports the greatest diversity of migratory birds on the planet, with 170 long distance migrant songbirds and over 80 short distance migrants. However, it is also one of most poorly studied of the world’s major migration routes. Remarkably little is known about the populations and ecology of many of its songbird migrants, which rely on habitats along the migratory route for their survival.

Lead by scientists from the Australian National University and Sun Yat-sen University and published in BirdLife’s journal Bird Conservation International, ‘Migratory songbirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway: a review from a conservation perspective’ draws together what is known and highlights gaps where more study is urgently required.

Flyway-scale protection

The study reveals many migratory songbirds are declining in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, owing to a range of threats operating across many countries. The paper makes a strong case that both national action and international cooperation are needed for effective conservation.

“The flyways concept can help promote collaborative conservation actions between many countries”, said Becky Rush, BirdLife’s Asia Flyways Policy Officer. “More governments are recognising that conservation in their own territory is not enough and that they need to encourage protection for species throughout their migratory range”.

According to Ding Li Yong, the paper’s lead author, migratory songbirds in Asia have received less attention from conservationists compared to waterbirds even though many songbirds have lost considerable wintering habitat and are in decline. “Ecologically, these songbirds are important because they connect the ecosystems of Asia’s boreal, temperate and tropical biomes”, he said.

Small birds, large threats

Migration is tough enough for birds, and especially for small birds weighing only a few grams and needing to refuel often, so any threats that affect them along their migratory route can add up and take their toll on whole populations. Currently available evidence suggests that habitat loss and hunting are the two most significant threats on the East Asia flyway, while other threats like invasive species, climate change and collision with man-made structures can also have a big impact.

Some species, like the Vulnerable Izu Leaf-warbler Phylloscopus ijimae and Pleske’s Grasshopper-warbler Locustella pleskei are particularly at risk not just because of their small breeding ranges, but that their entire wintering ranges remain unknown to scientists, thus hampering effective conservation. The Endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola used to be abundant, but have drastically declined as large numbers are trapped annually for food in South-East Asia and southern China.’

Dealing with the threats

The study highlights ways in which these declines can be stopped. Conservation of key habitats, better protection of key breeding, migration and wintering sites, and better enforcement of national legislation will all be needed. Additionally, international and national treaties and legislations need to be extended to include migratory songbirds.

One priority identified in the paper is to expand and standardise monitoring and increase research to better understand populations and threats in more detail. This will need to target some of the most poorly known migratory songbirds in Asia, including the Vulnerable Rufous-headed Luscinia ruficeps and Black-throated Blue Robin L. obscura.

“There is a need for more monitoring, and especially more coordinated monitoring, across Asia,” said Rush. “The number of birdwatchers in Asia is increasing rapidly, and in some cases their data are already contributing to our understanding of songbird distribution and status”. One promising development is a new project which BirdLife Asia is helping to develop in China, South Korea and Japan, to promote international cooperation on the monitoring and conservation of migratory landbirds.

While data from citizen science and more formal monitoring schemes will definitely help to improve knowledge, conservation action is needed now to address the immediate threats to migratory songbirds that have already been identified.

Related articles