You should catch them in the colony. It would only be a temporary disturbance. You can use decoys, live bait in basins and modified foot-hold traps :-)

Thank you for your answer, but foot-hold trap is dangerous to use in case of Spoonbills, because there is a high risk to catch their bills. This method was discussed earlier and not recommended for Spoonbills. This species is tactile forager, also searching food in the surface of mud by its bill.

There is a huge amount of spoonbills with colour rings and other tagging methods from colonies across western Europe and North Africa and as far as I know they are all captured in the colonies. So I don't think disturbance to the colonies will be a very serious issue in this species. However, those birds are usually captured in the nest before they can fly. Catching adults should be much more challenging.

Would walk-in traps on the nests be an option?

You could try a woosh net. Can you bait them on the foraging ground with food?

Thank you for the new answers. I have some plans how to try to catch Spoonbills, but new methods are still wellcome. The area is large, so I think we should use more methods to catch the Spoons, one or two of them must be working...

Pedro: spending 1-1.5 hour in the colony is not disturbing Spoonbills, we also catch the juveniles there while they are unable to fly. Colonies are found in the middle of the reedbed in Hungary, and Spoons breed together with other heron species. Spoonbills breed on the ground in the Netherlands, and Mauritania, the environment of the colonies are open, co-breeders are gulls, and those colonies are possible to approach by moving in a mobile hide. You can use loops there, because you can see what is happening. You can leave the Dutch colonies without disturbance if bird is not caught and you can pull back the loop(s) also without disturbance. Reed makes impossible to use this method in Hungary, and that would be a big disturbance to spend time in the reed, or going back to check a  walk-in trap regularly in the colony. Walk-in trap is a good idea on the feeding ground, I was also thinking about it, and I think that could work on the small pools. There would be also possible to attract birds to put some fish to those pools.

John: I am also thinking about using special net as a trap. There is a guy in Hungary, he is having a trap which looks like a net-tent when it catches the birds, and to activate that trap it is possible to use radio technic. I didn't know whoosh net, seems also a good solution. I was also thinking about using canon net at a regularly used roosting area, but I'm affraid equipment of canon net would looks strange for the birds, and they may avoid to sit next to that - but, of course we should try it. Canon net was used safely in Spain to catch Spoonbills.

Sper sa va fie de folos.

Years ago, in the Danube Delta, in order to capture an adult Dalmatian Pelican, we built a trap that could be useful for catching Spoonbills. It has shaped of letter A, made of two rectangular dials of light wood, on which is mounted a wide netting. The two halves can lock one another as the pages of a book, with two joints. Between the two parts a bow is mounted that tightens one another. The locking mechanism works as the mousetrap. The problem is to use a suitable arch to close the arms fast enough, but not too hard, not to hurt other birds sub dial, located near the bird that puts the trap into operation. In the waiting position, the trap is lying on the ground at the edge of water, arms outstretched in the angle of 180 degrees. One side is fixed on the ground, the other is mobile. The arch closes the arms one over the other, if the rope trigger is reached. Wide net does not hurt the bird that remains tangled in it.

Risks:

- Trap is not selective, may shut down over other creatures that touch the shutter mechanism,

- Not always you can find the exact spot on the shore where Spoonbills gather.

Hi Csaba,

I have not used one, but want to try with egrets and herons. It needs decoys and or bait. It could be enlarged for Spoons, egrets & herons. It has been used for Black-Crowned Night herons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT7g0Q68GU0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYiN6JApgzQ

Keep us posted!

Cheers

John

Today I had my first Spoonbill trapped by loop, in the foraging area. Additionally, 2 Grey Herons and a Great White Egret were also caught. That Spoonbill had good condition, so it has a GPS-GSM tracker, too! :-)

Congratulation, Csaba, nice work!

Our  B - 6708 XH Spoonbill, my ring of  2003 of the Romanian lagoons, observed in Tunisia 5 time in 2 years, inclusive in Hungary 2 time, is retourned in the Danube Delta, in a second colony, 75 km by his original place. A heroes bird!

Botond

It is good to hear! A lady sent me a photo on Facebook about a bird, photo was taken in the Delta. I asked her to contact with you. Some birds from 2003 are still living also in Hungary.