Kota Kinabalu: Bird watchers and photographers have been gathering at Tempasuk Sangkir, Kota Belud, since January 6 to witness and photograph the endangered Plataea minor, better known as the Black-Faced Spoonbill.
According to Professor Dr Abdul Hamid Ahmad (inset) of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Institute of Tropical Biology and Conservation, the bird is one of the few species that only migrate to this country on rare occasions, and it is classified as a bird species that is threatened by population decline due to habitat damage.