Later the Tainan birdwatching society assisted the academic community in surveying the roosting area and discovered that after dark the spoonbills all left the main roosting area and flew to the surrounding fishponds within a range of some ten kilometers to feed and take refuge.
隨後台南鳥會協助學界展開棲地的調查研究，透過「繫放」作業，黑琵裝上無線電發報器，才發現原來天黑後紛紛飛離主棲地的黑琵，是飛到周圍方圓十多公里內的漁塭，撿拾廢棄漁塭或漁塭收穫後水位下降區域的下雜魚為食，並避風休息，然後在凌晨又飛回主棲地。