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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 01/10/2026

One seller, thousands of birds. A handful of photos taken at the same stall over a few months. All sorts of waterbirds, weavers, storks (including hidden under the lotus leaves). Phnom Penh, but takes place all over Cambodia #birds 🌏

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 23/09/2026

Happy to see my photo on the bird meat trade in Cambodia recognized in this year's Bird Photographer of the Year competition! Yellow bitterns and other waterbirds on sale in downtown Phnom Penh - our investigation found #birds available across most markets of the capital and several provinces 🌏

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 21/09/2026

Bird hunting with mist nets is a serious threat to avian populations in Southeast Asia. 'Empty farmland and wetlands' loom, say conservationists. My work on mist net hunting was exhibited at the 2026 @deltabirdingfest.bsky.social - conservation story finalist @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social 🌏 #birds

Samnang* uses a stick to stretch mist nets to their full height at night in Kampong Chhnang province, Cambodia

A cinnamon bittern is caught is a mist net at night in Kampong Chhnang province, Cambodia

Bitterns & other waterbirds are sold in a market in downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 29/07/2026

Thailand has delisted Red-whiskered bulbuls in order to please voters & the captive breeding industry. This is sure to increase laundering of wild birds in the caged bird trade, and poaching in countries like Cambodia & Laos where enforcement is lax. 📷 RWB escapee nesting in Phnom Penh 🌏 #birds

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 15/06/2026

Phnom Penh is the Southeast Asian capital city with the least public space per person. Parks are near inexistents and surrounding #wetlands are filled in at a steady pace. Checking a few spots last weekend with people supporting 'urban wetland parks' for both people and wildlife 🐦🐢🌏

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 10/06/2026

(1/3) Where the most gruesome wildlife trade takes place: a few drone stills I shot last year in Sihanoukville for Wildlight & Earth League International for a video highlighting their undercover investigation into wildlife trade networks in Cambodia 🌏

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 08/05/2026

Somehow hunting often get dismissed in favor of other threats - like habitat loss and climate change - despite studies showing it's a main driver of biodiversity loss. It's also much harder to solve because poachers frequently act out of poverty 🌏 📷 #Birds hunters setting up for the night, Cambodia

Hunters setting up mist nets and sound speakers at night to catch waterbirds in rice fields.

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 08/05/2026

Another bird species, the Timor green pigeon, is at risk of going extinct due to hunting, with less than 500 individuals remaining. phys.org/news/2026-05... 📷 Remains of a different green pigeon found hunted in Phnom Kulen NP, Cambodia 🌏 #birds

Three small dark grey feathers with bright yellow fringe are held in the hands of a conservationists in the forest of Phnom Kulen National Park, Cambodia

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 11/03/2026

A little Burmese shrike on an indigenous farm in Eastern Cambodia. It was keeping a close watch on a newly planted field at the forest's edge. Shrikes must be doing well in that mixed landscape of forest, small fields and grassland where Bunong communities practice rotational agriculture. #birds

A white bird with a black crown and short, sharp bill is perched on a wooden stake looking back and upwards with an alert, sharp look.

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 13/02/2026

This reminds me the non-fiction book The Lizard King, where NatGeo head of investigation Brian Christy tells the story of US wildlife smugglers and law enforcement investigations over the past 50 years #wildlifetrade

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 12/11/2025

Beautiful paradise flycatcher a few days ago just across the Mekong. 📷 Female Blyth's paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone affinis) #birdoftheday #birds

A small bird with bright rufous tail and folded wings, whitish underbelly fading to blue-gray throat and head, with a dark crest and black eye-ring, perched on a branch

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 23/10/2025

This would also reduce the cost of anti-poaching law enforcement and its negative social impacts (another issue in Cambodia), as @emieldelange.bsky.social says here. Clipping from my story on bird hunting drivers dialogue.earth/en/nature/bi...

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 16/09/2025

Meanwhile in Southeast Asia, endangered species are regularly found in captivity, like this baby Long-tailed macaque kept in a mini-zoo behind a gas station, a casualty of the biomedical research trade, the pet trade, tourism, deforestation, corruption and poor law enforcement.

Baby long-tailed macaques clinging to the bars of its cage with hands and feet

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 17/06/2025

It is high time for countries in Southeast Asia to follow suit. In Cambodia most of merit release is already illegal (selling wild-caught native species, releasing top priority invasive species) but allowed in practice by the authorities.

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 10/05/2025

Thanks @mikeshanahan.bsky.social for sharing our work on the threat of bird hunting in the latest edition of Nature Beat. If you don't know this newsletter, it's a great round-up on what's happening in the biodiversity, nature and climate space.

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 12/04/2025

Female scarlet-backed flowerpecker rubbing herself against wet leaves for her morning bath in downtown Phnom Penh. #birds #birding #cambodia

A small bird rub itself against a wet green leaf at the top of a plant

A small bird stands on top of a wet green leaf

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 17/12/2024

Meanwhile in Cambodia, you can find animals similarly listed on CITES appendix 1 for sale on Facebook and Telegram, like this vulnerable Hyacinth macaws for $30,000.

Screenshot of Telegram message advertising a strikingly blue Hyacinth macaws for sale at the price of $30,000

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 28/11/2024

Among them are Endangered Ring-tailed lemurs like this one from a troop who grew accustomed to humans in the Tsaranoro valley - due in part to the local ecotourism camp growing their favorite fig trees. 📷 Madagascar, 2013 (Rolleiflex w/ Fuji Pro 400H)

A black and white Ring-tailed lemur feeding on green figs growing on a tree branch

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Yann Bigant @yannbigant.com · 02/02/2024

Millions of animals are caught and sold every year across Southeast Asia for merit release. The trade endangers several bird species while introducing invasive ones. My recent work on the reality behind the practice is on the cover of SCMP Post Magazine. Read here www.scmp.com/magazines/po...

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