The spoon-billed sandpiper is a small wading or shorebird that hails from southeast Asia and the Bering Sea. These birds are faced with many threats and a dwindling population. They face the threats of habitat loss and destruction at the hands of residential and commercial developments, marine and freshwater aquaculture, and renewable energy; hunting; trapping; human interference; invasive species, and with them disease and predation; pollution, and with it the introduction of microplastics & water/land pollution; and climate change that can cause habitat shifting and alteration.
First the Stats…
Scientific name: Calidris pygmaea
Weight: Up to 1.41 ounces
Length: Up to 6.3 inches
Wingspan: Up to 14.96 inches
Lifespan: Up to 16 years
Now on to the Facts!
1.) The IUCN lists these birds as Critically Endangered.
2.) These sandpipers were first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
3.) Their calls include a quiet preep or a shrill wheer. During their displays they produce an intermittent buzzing and descending trill preer-prr-prr.
4.) While feeding, they keep their head down and move it side to side in order to capture food.
5.) They feed on mosses in the tundra and also on beetles, flies, mosquitoes, and spiders. Shrimp and worms are also preyed upon.
But wait, there’s more on the spoon-billed sandpiper!
6.) Long-term remote sensing studies have displayed that up to 65% of the key spoon-billed sandpiper habitat in China, North Korea, and South Korea has been destroyed by reclamation.
7.) It was estimated that there was up to an 88% decline in their numbers since 2002 equating to an annual rate of decline of approximately 26%.
Did you know…?
It is estimated that there were but 490 wild individuals remaining, as of 2021, and those numbers are decreasing.
8.) At the current rate of decline it is estimated that these birds will go extinct in less than 10 years, if conservation efforts aren’t successful.
9.) Artificial incubation as well as captive rearing, coined headstarting, were expected to increase survival rates from less than 25% to over 75%! Plus, the removal of eggs was expected to lead to a 2nd clutch reared by the parents.
10.) In 2019, nearly a decade since the rescue mission, 2 birds were first to be born in a UK spoon-billed sandpiper ark. In 2013, conservationists successfully hatched 20 chicks in Chukotka.
But wait, there’s still more on the spoon-billed sandpiper!
11.) An education kit was created aimed at teaching about the bird and about environmental conservation (in English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Burmese). It is being utilized to help wetland conservation in the countries these birds inhabit.
12.) Females lay up to 4 eggs each clutch. If the eggs are taken or destroyed, the female will often lay another clutch.
Did you know…?
In July 2022, National Geographic announced that the spoon-billed sandpiper was the incredible milestone 13,000th animal photographed for The Photo Ark!
13.) Eggs hatch in up to 21 days.
14.) Chicks are hatched in a precocial state (self sufficient) in that they are able to walk and feed themselves not long after birth.
15.) Foxes, wild dogs, stoats, ground squirrels, and skuas all prey on these shorebirds.
Now a Short Spoon-Billed Sandpiper Video!
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Some source material acquired from: Wikipedia & IUCN
Photo credit: Smith Sutibut
