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        Discussion Area 討論區 >> Conservation 自然保育 >>  European White Stork - extinct in China?
        
(Message started by: Project Officer on Feb 26^th, 2003, 11:53pm)

Title: European White Stork - extinct in China?
Post by Project Officer on Feb 26^th, 2003, 11:53pm

Message extracted from the OBC e-mail group, share with you. It has also been briefly reported in Ming Pao Daily on 25 February 2003.

Quote"

Dear all,

From the website of the People's Daily today: The European White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) is believed to be extinct in China.

The State Environmental Protection Administration announced that after three years' survey they had come to a conclusion that the European White Stork had become extinct. The cause of extinction of this species is probably habitat destruction.

In fact, there are only a handful of records (not all confirmed) of Ciconia ciconia from Xinjiang and probably Tibet. None of these reports are recent.

This species should not be confused with the Oriental Stork (Ciconia boyciana), which are still found breeding in NE China and wintering the central and SE China. In fact, China has almost the entire wintering population of this species. (Ciconia boyciana was formerly regarded as a subspecies of Ciconia ciconia. This has caused some confusion in Chinese ornithological literatures.)

It interesting to note that although the European White Stork is not regarded as a bird of eastern China, there were descriptions of white storks with red bills in ancient Chinese literatures. That means the former distribution of Ciconia ciconia might have been more widespread.

Simba Chan
Wild Bird Society of Japan

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Subject: [OB] Ciconia ciconia in China - more.....
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 00:12:10 +0900
From: Simba Chan <simba@wing-wbsj.or.jp>
To: orientalbirding@yahoogroups.com

Dear all,

Following my post of the announcement of the extinction of the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) in China, Mr. Ma Ming from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Urumqi contacted me and said the news was apparently derived
from his study of this species in Xinjiang. From his 16 years' field experience in Xinjiang he believed Ciconia ciconia became extinct around 1980, although no specimen has been collected, and the last record in ornithological literature was by Scully in 1874 (yes, 1874 - that's why I said 'none of this records are recent)

If you are interested in learning more from Mr. Ma, you can post a message to the OBC mailing list. Mr. Ma is a subscriber to the OBB mailing list.

Simba Chan
Wild Bird Society of Japan

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