130925-studie-wildlife-comeback-in-europe

4.6. Eurasian spoonbill
Platalea leucorodia
Summary
The Eurasian spoonbill declined dramatically after
the 19 th century as a result of habitat loss, caused
mainly by drainage of wetlands. With the establishment
of international treaties and conventions
for the protection of the species and its habitat, the
majority of breeding sites are now protected across its
range in Europe. Habitat protection and management
has been crucial in enabling the recovery of Eurasian
spoonbills in Europe. Population size is increasing in
most parts of Europe, along with evidence of recolonisation
and range expansion.
Background
General description of the species
The Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) is
a wading bird, characterised by is distinctive
appearance and in particular its spoon-shaped
bill. There are four or five subspecies, of which the
nominate subspecies, P. l. leucorodia, is found in
Europe [1] . This is in turn separated into two flyway
populations, which differ in their breeding distribution:
the Atlantic population and the and Central/
Southeast European, or continental, population [2] .
Both European populations are migratory.
The Atlantic population migrates along the East
Atlantic coast to winter in west Africa, though some
overwinter in northwestern Spain and Portugal
and an increasing number remain in France during
the winter. The continental population uses two
main migration routes, though with substantial
crossover: western breeders tend to migrate
south-west through Italy to North Africa, while
eastern breeders usually head south-east through
the Balkans, Anatolia, the Middle East and the Nile
Delta to the Upper Nile [2, 3] .
Table 1.
Global IUCN Red List
status [7] , European
population and SPEC
status [8] and EU
population status [9]
of the Eurasian
spoonbill.
Scale Status Justification
Global
Least Concern Extremely large range, very large population size
(since 1988) and not believed to be decreasing.
Europe Rare (SPEC 2) Small population size (