Photographs of four White-eared Night-herons, Gorsachius magnificus in Ba Be National Park, Bac Kan Province, has confirmed that a breeding population of this Endangered bird species exists in Vietnam. Two adults, and two fledged Juveniles were found roosting near the nest on Saturday, April 25, 2009. This is the first confirmed breeding record for Vietnam, with only three sightings of the species previously documented.

A team from BirdLife International in Indochina, Vietnam Birdwatching Club and Vietnam Birding discovered the birds at their daytime roost roosting following information provided by colleagues who had recently seen birds leaving their roost at dusk.

 This Endangered species has a very small, fragmented population, limited to southern China and north-eastern Vietnam. BirdLife believes that global population of the White-eared Night-heron to be between 250 and 999 birds. The species was believed to be possibly extinct in Vietnam until members of an earlier BirdLife survey team observed a bird in 2001 in Bac Kan Province.

It has been suggested that the species is undergoing a population decline owing to forest clearance and degradation, particularly demands for timber and agricultural land. Although surveys for the species in China have suggested that it is fairly tolerant of forest degradation, and that primarily disturbance and hunting may be greater threats.

In 2008 BirdLife, in collaboration with Vietnam Birdwatching Club and the National Natural Museum, undertook a search for the species the in four provinces in northern Vietnam, including Bac Kan Province. Results from that field survey highlighted the potential importance of Ba Be National Park for the species.

“The occurrence of White-eared Night-heron in Ba Be National Park significantly strengthens the case for nominating this site under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.” - said Nguyen Duc Tu, BirdLife’s Wetlands Programme Officer

 
The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, is an inter-governmental treaty, which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. There are presently 159 Contracting Parties to the Convention, with 1847 wetland sites, totaling 181 million hectares, designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

Although Vietnam was the first country in South-East Asia to ratify the Ramsar Convention, when it designated Xuan Thuy National Park in 1989, since then it has designated only two further sites. This is in contrast to neighboring Thailand which joined the Convention in 1998 and now has designated 11 Sites. BirdLife is supporting the designation of Ba Be as Vietnam’s third Ramsar site.

Full news of the White-eared Night-heron discovery can be found in the latest edition of Forktail.