Saving the Masked Finfoot

Support Surveys in Bangladesh’s Eastern Sundarbans — the Remaining Stronghold for Masked Finfoot

BCF is collaborating with the Oriental Bird Club to provide critical funding to survey for Masked Finfoots in their remaining stronghold in Bangladesh. BCF seeks to raise $9,500 to support eight months of field surveys and research into the populations of Masked Finfoot in the Sundarbans region of Bangladesh. The project will locate nesting sites, document the Finfoot’s breeding ecology, and address hunting threats. The findings of this vital work will lead to the creation of a Masked Finfoot task-force under the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP). We need your help to support this project.

The elusive Masked Finfoot (Heliopais personatus) is a poorly known species of waterbird which is in rapid decline. In 2022 its status was upgraded by the IUCN to Critically Endangered. The Eastern Sundarbans in Bangladesh hold the largest known remaining breeding population, estimated at 40-80 breeding pairs. The Masked Finfoot is one of three species globally in the Finfoot/Sungrebe family, a distinctive but elusive waterbird adapted to freshwater marshes.

The project lead, Sayam Chowdhury and colleagues estimated in 2020 that the Bangladeshi population now represents about half of the remaining global population. The bird probably still nests in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Burma and Laos – but appears to have been extirpated in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and India, where they formerly occurred regularly. Habitat loss and disturbance, along with a lack of formal protection, are the main threats to the Masked Finfoot.

The location of nests in Bangladesh was first documented as recently as 2005. 2011-2013 studies were able to find just three nests and in 2017 the first camera traps were installed. To date, the breeding ecology is not completely understood and there are still significant knowledge gaps to fill in researcher’s efforts to develop a conservation plan. The proposed project will conduct five field surveys, which will include both creeks investigated in earlier surveys and new areas. Researchers will install six new camera traps and reach out to local hunters, fishermen, and local NGOs, to understand trapping and egg collection threats. Informational pamphlets will be produced and distributed to the local communities.

Your contribution will directly assist efforts to save the Masked Finfoot from extinction. As with all Bird Conservation Fund projects, 100% of your donation will go to the designated grant recipient. Please contact Graham Chisholm at graham@birdfund.org or Aaron Maizlish at aaron@birdfund.org with questions.