More than 200 conservation experts and volunteers counted 7,746 black-faced spoonbills during an international census from 9 to 11 January 2026 across eleven wintering regions along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, marking the eighth consecutive population record. The count represents a 9.4 percent increase from the previous year's census, according to the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (HKBWS). The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had previously downgraded the species from "Endangered" to "Vulnerable" following a review that began in 2024, NEASPEC reported.
From near-extinction to population boom
Fewer than 300 black-faced spoonbills existed worldwide in the late 1980s, the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) noted, prompting the IUCN to classify the species as "Critically Endangered" in 1994. By 2000, coordinated international winter counts, satellite telemetry, and outreach work along the bird's range led to a downgrade to "Endangered." The 2026 downgrade to "Vulnerable" applied IUCN criteria C and C2aii, addressing the species' small population and declining numbers in a single subpopulation, reflecting the bird's limited breeding area in the Yellow Sea, where nearly all breeding-age birds live. Reviewers had even proposed a further downgrade to "Least Concern," but "Vulnerable" ultimately gained official acceptance.
Where spoonbills winter
Taiwan remained the world's largest wintering area with 4,719 birds, a 13.2 percent increase of 550 birds from the prior year, accounting for 60.9 percent of the global population. Mainland China followed with 1,834 birds as the second-largest site, a 9.8 percent increase of 163 individuals. Japan recorded 593 spoonbills, a 17.2 percent decline that HKBWS observers tentatively attributed to unstable weather during the count, though no confirmed explanation exists. The Philippines recorded 88 birds, a fourfold jump of 71 individuals, suggesting the country is developing as a significant wintering area.
Deep Bay's share of the global population fell to a record low of 4.4 percent, since the overall population grew faster than the local population. HKBWS director Yu Yat-tung noted that the local population has hovered around 300 birds for a decade and has not exceeded the previous high of 411 birds reached ten years ago.
"The consecutive record numbers and successful downgrade of the black-faced spoonbill are the fruit of over 30 years of regional cooperation," HKBWS director Yu Yat-tung said.
Despite recovery, new threats emerge
More than 60 percent of the global population currently concentrates on a small number of wintering sites, making the species vulnerable to local disturbances, HKBWS warned. The society also cautioned against expansion of renewable energy including solar parks and offshore wind farms, as well as bird diseases such as botulism and avian influenza, which climate change could exacerbate. NEASPEC named offshore and coastal wind farm expansion and possible highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks as emerging risks, stressing that the species' recovery depends on continued conservation effort.
Protection works, abandonment doesn't
Analysis of international census data from 1997 to 2014 revealed a stark difference between protected and unprotected sites: populations at protected locations grew substantially, while those at unprotected sites declined. At Taiwan's Tainan, where the Chiku Black-faced Spoonbill Reserve was established in 2002, populations grew from 298 to 1,246 birds during the study period, the strongest gain among 42 surveyed sites. At Yancheng Nature Reserve in China's Jiangsu province, historically up to 72 spoonbills were counted, but only one bird appeared between 2009 and 2014. Collectively, twelve core wintering sites held 89 percent of the global population between 2009 and 2014, with Tainan, Deep Bay, and Chiayi together accounting for 67 percent.
From under 300 to 7,746: Decades of flyway protection
International conservation began in 1995 with BirdLife International's first action plan, after the species was declared BirdLife's top conservation priority at the organization's 1994 world conference. The IUCN added the species to Appendix I of the Convention on Migratory Species in 2002. In 2010, the CMS and BirdLife International released an updated action plan. In 2013, a dedicated working group on black-faced spoonbills was founded under the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership to coordinate participating nations' protection measures. HKBWS is currently working with international experts on a revised international action plan scheduled for release this year. From under 300 birds in the late 1980s to the current count of 7,746, the population has grown substantially over multiple decades.