The 'Eurasian' Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) in Africa

Abstract

The 'Eurasian' Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) nests in discrete areas across the western Palaearctic and is considered to be threatened. Western breeding populations winter along the Atlantic seaboard of Mauritania and Senegal, where they mingle with the Mauritanian subspecies P. l. balsaci. Their movements have been studied through colour ringing, which has shown that they spend their early years in Africa. Observations of Dutch breeding birds in the Mediterranean are scarce. The central European breeding population nests mainly in the Danube Basin. Recoveries of metal rings show that, while some winter in the Inner Niger Delta, most stay in the tidal Mediterranean areas of southern Tunisia and Libya, thus avoiding a long trans-Saharan journey. New colour-marking programmes in Italian and Greek breeding colonies have provided more information, but as yet there is no proof that young birds summer in the area. Some central European Spoonbills move through the Nile Delta and along the Nile to winter in southern Egypt and Sudan. Breeding Spoonbills of eastern Europe and western Asia also winter in southern Egypt and Sudan, while some winter as far east as Oman; as yet there are few ringing recoveries, but a colour-ringing programme in the Danube Delta begun in 2003 has already yielded recoveries in Spain and Oman. There is another African-breeding subspecies P. l. archeri in the Red Sea. We need to establish the importance of African wetlands for Spoonbills, concentrating on colour-ringed individuals, surveys in Libya, Egypt and Sudan, a search for summering immatures, and an investigation of why birds from the same breeding colonies take such different migration routes. La spatule blanche Platalea leucorodia (dite ≪eurasiatique≫ en langue anglaise!), espèce considérée comme étant menacée d'extinction, niche dans des zones discontinues du Paléarctique occidental. Les populations occidentales hivernent le long des côtes atlantiques de la Mauritanie et du Sénégal, où elles retrouvent la sous-espèce mauritanienne P. l. balsaci. Leurs migrations ont été étudiées grâce à l'utilisation de bagues en couleur, qui ont montré que les jeunes spatules passent leurs premières années en Afrique; les observations en Méditerranée d'oiseaux d'origine hollandaise sont rares.