Establishing a national monitoring programme for white-shouldered Ibis in Cambodia

White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davisoni is perhaps the most threatened of South-East Asia’s waterbirds (Tordoff et al. 2005). Previously occurring across Indochina, including Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, the majority of remaining White-shouldered Ibis are now restricted to Cambodia. A rapid decline in the 20th century (Timmins & Soriyun 1998) has left a fragmented population believed to consist of 50–249 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2009).

Cambodian populations are restricted to dry dipterocarp forests and the Mekong River channel in the north and east. The size and status of these populations are not clearly understood. Forest landscapes contain seasonal pools, active and fallow rice fields, grasslands and stream channels. Understanding the habitat selection of the species may enable habitat management to become a core component of conservation interventions. This project aimed to develop surveys that would increase scientific knowledge in these areas.