'Sonadia Island vital for endangered birds'
BirdLife International, a global bird conservation organisation, recognised Sonadia Island, Cox's Bazar as an Important Bird Area, a globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations.
Being a significant habitat for some endangered birds and turtles, the island was declared an “Ecologically Critical Area” by the government in 1999.
“A series of recent surveys confirms that Sonadia Island is an extremely important wintering ground for the critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper,” said Sayam U Chowdhury, principal investigator of Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Conservation Project.
Several international censuses showed that there are less than 400 mature spoon-billed sandpipers left in the wild, and nearly 10 percent of them are found at Sonadia Island, says a press release.
These birds breed in Eastern Russia and fly over 8,000 kilometres to spend their winters on the coasts of Bangladesh, Thailand and Myanmar.
Sonadia Island is simply irreplaceable as a habitat of the spoon-billed sandpiper, opined Mike Crosby, senior conservation officer at BirdLife International and an expert on Asian birds, and Dr Robert Sheldon, head of International Species Recovery at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Sonadia Island also supports the globally endangered Nordmann's greenshank and other threatened birds such as the Great Knot, Asian Dowitcher, Eurasian Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit.
“Sonadia Island is also a vital breeding ground for several species of marine turtles and a heaven for dolphins,” said renowned Bangladeshi wildlife expert Dr Reza Khan.
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