soil or inside plants. As nutrition they prefer parts of the plants that have already released the saltwater. Relatively well-known examples are the "Halligflieder-Spitzmaus-Rüsselkäfer" or the "Strandwegerichgallrüsselkäfer" (Mecinus collaris) that live in the particular plant. In contrast the magnificent salt beetle (Bledius spectabilis) digs a tube in the mudflat. Sea lavender serves the caterpillar of the seldom seen Salzwiesen-Kleinspanner (Scopula emutaria) as nutrition. Its existence can only be proven in the coastal area of Sylt and Amrum. Birds The avifauna of the national park is comparable with avifaunae of other Wadden Sea regions. With over 10 million birds in spring and autumn the trilateral Wadden Sea accommodates the most birds in Europe. The nutrition-rich area is visited by migratory birds regularly. Due to the ongoing changes in the Wadden Sea the effects of the national park on the avifauna are hard to quantify. From 1994 to 2004 only three bird species (European spoonbill, Great cormorant, common ringed plover) increased in number. In the same period, the stock of 18 other species shrank including barnacle goose, common greenshank, Eurasian curlew, black-headed gull, lesser black-backed gull, Eurasian oystercatcher, pied avocet and dark bellied brent goose. The reason why the stocks are decreasing is unknown. It is presumed that trawling damages the food source of the birds permanently. Species which are mainly living inland seem to have advantage over species which mostly live in salt marshes. They prefer dyked areas, which are cut off from salt water intrusion (polders), so the fresh water environment is dominating. Examples for newly-dyked polders in Schleswig-Holstein are Beltringharder Koog, Hauke-Haien-Koog, Speicherkoog, Rickelsbüller Koog. Since 2000, breeding eagle pairs settled permanently in the Wadden Sea area. The population of the northwest-European common shelduck, which numbers 180,000 birds, spends the time of moulting between July and September in the Wadden Sea, mainly around the protected island of Trischen. There gathers over 80% of the northwest-European population. This phenomenon of a "mass moulting" is unique in the world. About 200,000 eider ducks spend their moulting time here; about 1000 eider duck couples use the mudflats of the North Sea as breeding area. Most can be found on the island of Amrum. Huge stocks of barnacle geese (about 60,000) or brant geese (about 84,000) exist solely on the islands and Halligen. It has been noted that the barnacle goose is steadily extending its stay in the Wadden Sea. Around the North