Record number of black-faced spoonbills seen RISING NUMBERS: Of the global population of 5,222 black-faced spoonbills, 60% were documented in Taiwan and 40% were recorded in Tainan alone By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter A record 3,132 black-faced spoonbills, or almost 60 percent of the global population of 5,222, were sighted in Taiwan this winter, an annual census by the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society showed. An international census coordinated by the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society in January documented a record 5,222 black-faced spoonbills, the Taiwan Wild Bird Federation said in a news release on Friday. Among them, 3,132 were found in Taiwan — an increase of 347 from a year earlier, the federation said.