Current view: Text account
Site description (2004 baseline):
Site location and context
The IBA comprises Ko Libong Non-hunting Area, which is located in the Andaman Sea, near the estuary of the Trang river. The site encompasses a large inhabited island, several smaller satellite islands, intertidal mudflats, sandy beaches, mangroves, terrestrial forest (including beach forest in a few areas), extensive seagrass beds, open sea and coral reefs. Mangrove species present include Rhizophora apiculata, R. mucronata, Intsia bijuga and Sonneratia caseolaris. Ko Libong Non-hunting Area is included in a 66,313 ha Ramsar Site, designated in 2002, which also includes Hat Chao Mai National Park (IBA TH051) and the estuary of the Trang river.
Ko Libong Non-hunting Area is an important wintering and staging area for migratory shorebirds and terns. Most notably, it regularly supports a significant wintering population of the globally endangered Nordmann's Greenshank Tringa guttifer, accounting for over 1% of the Asian biogeographic population. In addition, there are recent records of the globally vulnerable Chinese Egret Egretta eulophotes, and an historical record of the globally vulnerable Masked Finfoot Heliopais personata from 1987. Furthermore, two globally near-threatened species, Brown-winged Kingfisher Halcyon amauroptera and Malaysian Plover Charadrius peronii, are resident at the site, while a third, Asian Dowitcher Limnodromus semipalmatus, has been recorded at the site but is not thought to regularly occur in significant numbers.
Non-bird biodiversity: Plants
Dipterocarpus grandiflorus (CR)
Dipterocarpus kerrii (CR)
Vatica cinerea (EN)
The IBA comprises Ko Libong Non-hunting Area, which is located in the Andaman Sea, near the estuary of the Trang river. The site encompasses a large inhabited island, several smaller satellite islands, intertidal mudflats, sandy beaches, mangroves, terrestrial forest (including beach forest in a few areas), extensive seagrass beds, open sea and coral reefs. Mangrove species present include Rhizophora apiculata, R. mucronata, Intsia bijuga and Sonneratia caseolaris. Ko Libong Non-hunting Area is included in a 66,313 ha Ramsar Site, designated in 2002, which also includes Hat Chao Mai National Park (IBA TH051) and the estuary of the Trang river.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The primary threats to biodiversity at the site are hunting of waterbirds, illegal logging, unsustainable tourism development and associated pollution, and conversion of forest into rubber plantations.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ko Li Bong (Thailand). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ko-li-bong-iba-thailand on 26/12/2024.
