Black-faced Spoonbill in breeding plumage Photo © Ki-sup Lee, Korea Waterbird Network

Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor has a very small population. However, its population trend is stable and perhaps increasing. In the early 1990s only a few hundred individuals were known, but by the late 2000s the known population had increased to over 2,000. The January 2016 census recorded a new high of 3,356 birds. Despite its gradual recovery, Black-faced Spoonbill is still a globally Endangered species with vulnerable breeding colonies and deteriorating wintering sites. Spoonbills live in coastal inter-tidal habitats, which are threatened by reclamation and pollution in eastern Asia.

They breed alongside other waterbird species on small islands from March to August. Breeding success is low. They feed in the early morning or late evening on intertidal mudflats. At other times of the day they rest and sleep on trees, man-made structures or in shallow water within 2-3 km of feeding areas. They feed on fish and shrimp, which they locate by moving their bill side-to-side.

Some birds with satellite transmitters have wintered in Hong Kong and Taiwan, migrated along the coast of eastern China to northern Jiangsu, then over the Yellow Sea to the Korean peninsula. During the winter many birds aggregate and sometimes are in mixed flocks with Eurasian Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia. They first breed when they are 5 years age and some live for 9.5 years.