Découverte de deux colonies de Spatules d’Afrique en Tanzanie

Two colonies of African Spoonbill Platalea alba were discovered by the Danish birder Lars Dinesen in the Bahi swamp, 45 km west of Dodoma, central Tanzania, during aerial reconnaissance of four major wetlands, on 6 June 2001, as part of the preparatory work for the implementation of the Ramsar Convention. The colonies were spaced only a few kilometres apart and comprised ground-breeding birds in extensive marsh vegetation in the northern part of the swamp.
These colonies comprised c360 and 120 nests respectively, counted from photographs, thus representing a total of c480 pairs. Previously, approximately 400 and 150 nests in each were estimated by plane, illustrating the discrepancies that can be involved in such overflights. Furthermore, c440 spoonbills were estimated in Lake Kitangiri, c240 km to the northwest during the same flight, and nesting may also have occurred at this locality. In the Wembere swamp-part of the same wetland ecosystem, 250 pairs bred in 1962. The Bahi colonies comprise a significant breeding record, because the few other large known colonies have comprised 300-400 pairs, eg in Lake Fitri, Chad and the River Niger, Mali.