Abstract
In May and June 2009, foraging behavior of two black-faced spoonbills Platalea minor was observed on a tidal flat of Ôhama, Ishigaki Island located in the southwestern part of the Ryukyu Islands. When one of the spoonbills was found in May, it had injured its left leg, but the leg appeared to have healed by June. They foraged in tidal pools (about 10 cm in depth) with dense green algae Ulva pertusa and a grayish black reduced layer exposed at the bottom due to eutrophication caused by in situ decomposition of U. pertusa . A large number of mandibles of Ceratoneris sp., belonging to polychaeta were found in the fecal droppings of Black-faced spoonbills. Ceratonereis sp., occurred only in the reduced layer with grayish black bottoms. These observations suggest that the injured bird postponed its northward migration until the leg was healed while chiefly preying on polychaeta in the tidal flat of Ishigaki Island.
