DIRE STRAITS ON EASTERN SHORES:

Concern continues to rise for the shorebirds of the East Asian flyway with Far Eastern Curlew and Great Knot being uplisted from Vulnerable to Endangered and Bar-tailed Godwit, Red Knot, Curlew Sandpiper, and Red-necked Stint all being uplisted to Near-threatened. See: http://www.birdlife.org/globally-threatened-bird-forums/2015/10/global-iucn-red-list-for-birds-2015-changes/. Photo:
Far Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis), South Korea, © Christian Artuso

Red-list Update

When a once abundant species like Hooded Vulture gets upgraded to Critically endangered (CR), there is clearly something very wrong! Birdlife International’s 2015 updates to the IUCN red list are now viewable at: http://www.birdlife.org/globally-threatened-bird-forums/2015/10/global-iucn-red-list-for-birds-2015-changes

ON THE VERY BRINK...

I photographed this Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea) in South Korea in 2005 (the bird on the right is a Dunlin) but this critically endangered species in now on the very brink of extinction. Their massive decline, and the decline of many other species that use the East Asian-Australasian Flyway is strongly linked to the ecological devastation of major stop-over sites (much more so than to changes on the breeding grounds or wintering grounds) as this post http://www.birdskoreablog.org/?p=16846  and this article http://news.sciencemag.org/environment/2015/10/hostile-shores discuss. This is a compelling example of the need for full life cycle monitoring and conservation planning.