Project Summary

Thailand is the most important range state for wintering Spotted greenshank in tropical Asia. About a quarter to a third of the world population of this wading bird winters in Thailand. Key sites for Spotted greenshank are coastal mudflats of Laem Phak Bia, west of the city of Bangkok, and at Prasae estuary to the east of Bangkok. However, not everything is known about where the wintering Spotted greenshank live, therefore, researchers will search for identify additional sites in the Inner Gulf of Thailand. In addition to these field surveys, protecting and managing their habitat will be a top priority. The project team will work with local landowners to manage the roosting and foraging areas of the Spotted greenshank.

Objectives

Research: Improve our understanding of Spotted greenshank wintering sites across the Thai coastline, focusing surveys on eastern Inner Gulf of Thailand, and the coast of Peninsular Thailand.

Practice: Collaborate with local stakeholders to secure important roosting and foraging sites of the species through co-management of salt pans surrounding Pak Thale Nature Reserve, and salt ponds owned by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) at the Pak Tale-Laem Phak Bia Flyway Network Site.

Outreach: Promoting awareness of Spotted greenshank and associated shorebird communities with local people. Establish a network of local conservation groups in known wintering range of the Spotted greenshank.

Key Documents

• Thailand Projects Factsheet (ENG)
• Thailand Projects Factsheet (ARB)

Field Reports

Launching the Young Shorebird Ambassador program

September 30, 2022

As part of a community outreach campaign the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST) launched the “Young Shorebird Ambassador” initiative. The program will educate and support four student groups to get an in-depth understanding on shorebirds to produce a short documentary film about the importance of the species and their conservation.

As an added bonus, the students would be mentored by professionals from the media industry and guided in different elements of storytelling and film making.

The films are expected to be released by BCST in June 2023.

Knowing the Nordmann’s Greenshank webinar

February 11, 2023

The Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST) in collaboration with the Oriental Bird Club hosted a webinar entitled “Knowing the Nordmann’s Greenshank”.

The webinar, which focused on various aspects about the conservation of the species, was hugely successful and attended by more than 10,000 people.

Shorebird Webinar

September 1, 2022

Khwankhao Sinhaseni, one of our BSCT team, was one of the guest speakers on a recent shorebird webinar hosted by EEAF Shorebird Tracking Group. At the well-attended online event she shared lessons and experiences learned during field work on Spotted Greenshank migratory tracking. Additional speakers included Carmen Or from WWF Hong Kong and Philipp Maleko from Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

The event was shared on YouTube

Click the image to visit BCST Facebook page

Establishing local conservation working groups

July 31, 2022

In Pak Thale our partner is using wintering migratory survey data to identify local communities which relate to those areas where the Spotted Greenshank are observed. Already they have established contact with eight potential conservation groups along the coastal lines from East to South and within the Central Region. An action plan is being developed for each of these important sites during the next Spotted Greenshank migratory survey.

Click the image to enlarge it and read the captions

Urban Forest Development

May 31, 2022

BCST works with local stakeholder, Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR), in the prevention of coastline erosion and the management of salt pans for creating and securing roosting and foraging sites for the Spotted Greenshank at Pak Thale. Recently DMCR and BCST have developed a new MOU under the project “urban forest” for shorebird and habitat conservation. The 20 hectares of salt pans and mangrove forest at Pak Thale has been developed and classified under 3 categories (1) mangrove forest by natural regeneration, (2) mangrove forest by seedling plantation, (3) Wetland for shorebird habitat conservation and maintenance of abandoned salt pans.

More than 1000 recorded sightings of the Spotted Greenshank

February 28, 2022

In nine provinces of Thailand there have been 1020 recordings of the Spotted Greenshank. Most appeared in the past three months at Laem Phak Bia near Pak Thale in Phetchaburi while in other provinces sightings were rare, except in the Rayong district where 168 were recorded. The last survey will be conducted in March, at the end of the migratory season, finalising the complete mapping of the Spotted Greenshank.

Listen to the Spotted Greenshank’s song

Field trip photos. Click the thumbnail to enlarge it and read the captions.

BirdTalk: A BCST Facebook Live Event

March 19, 2022

Join BCST for its Facebook Live event “Bird Talk” on 19 March from 6:30 to 8:00pm (UTC +7).

Click the image to visit BCST Facebook page

Improving the habitat for threatened shorebirds

February 9, 2022

Landscaping and water management has provided a diverse habitat for various shorebird species by adjusting different water levels across ponds. This was done by local villagers in cooperation with our partner, Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST). The Department of Marine Coastal Resources has also installed four kilometers of bamboo fences to prevent coastal erosion at Pak Thale. A total of 67 species of birds have been recorded including the globally threatened Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Great Knot and Great Crested Tern, all of which have been regularly recorded roosting and foraging in the newly managed habitat.

For photographs of the threatened shorebirds sighted visit this flickr photo album.

All Thailand’s coastal provinces surveyed

January 23, 2022

For the very first time all 24 coastal provinces in Thailand have been surveyed as part of research into saving the endangered Spotted Greenshank. Covering approximately 844,500 hectares the study took almost five months to complete and was necessary for filling in knowledge gaps on the bird’s distribution and understanding the relative importance of different sites throughout the eastern Gulf of Thailand and Peninsular Thailand.

Spotted greenshank found at new location in Thailand

September 1, 2021

Five sites out of 41 surveyed across coastal Thailand were found to host Spotted greenshank according to March 2021 series of field surveys conducted by the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST). In an exciting development the team identified a previously unknown wintering site that contained Spotted greenshanks. The reports of greenshank in these locations will help BCST work with local authorities and residents to protect the birds and their feeding grounds. Photos of their trips, as well as a few maps, are included in the slideshow below.

From this survey, Ban Hua Hin (La-ngu, Satun province) is proven to be a new significant wintering site for Spotted Greenshanks in Thailand

Photos of Sept 2021 fieldtrip. Click the image to enlarge it and read the captions