Species Profile: Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Hello again, welcome back to animals under threat. Today, we will be covering a species of bird from the genus Calidris. This species has become critically endangered due to loss of their breeding habitat during winter by coastal development. Say hello to the Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea).

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper is a critically endangered migratory shorebird that breeds along coastal tundra in the north-east arctic of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and northern Kamchatka Kraj, Russia. In non-breeding seasons, this bird migrates to Southern Russia, China, Korea and Japan (Clark et al, 2018).

Spoon-billed Sandpiper is characterized by a unique black spatulate beak. During non-breeding seasons, the feathers of this bird are a mixture of white, black and gray with a lightly gray streaked cap on its head. During breeding seasons, the feathers turn a rich red/brown colour on the head, breast and back. The breast is also covered with black spotting that extends to the belly that is white (Birds.cornell, 2020).

Non-breeding Calidris pygmaea (below) by Zheng Jianping and baby bird (above)by John O’Sullivan

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper requires a very specialized habitat that it needs in order to breeding in. this habitat is made of lagoon spits that contain crowberry-lichen vegetation or dwarf birch and willow sedges with adjacent estuary/mudflats in which the adults that are nesting can use as a feeding ground (BirdLife international, 2017).

Dwarf Birch by unknown.

They mostly feed on moss, small insects and marine vertebrates. Male Spoon-billed Sandpipers preform a courtship dance over their territory in order to attract a mate. When laying eggs, females lay 1-4 eggs on a shallow tundra depression and take turns incubating for 19-23 days before the young hatch. Males will look after the chicks until they fledge 20 days later while the females leave soon as the young hatch. When the young reach fledging age, the males will leave them, and the chicks migrate south after a few weeks (Birds.cornell, 2020).



Spoon-billed Sandpipers are under threat from loss of their breeding habitat and trapping/poisoning. Coastal development has removed the specialized habitat that the birds rely on for breeding and feeding as they require lagoon spits with the vegetation adjacent from mudflats. Trapping and poisoning have also reduced population numbers as the birds are accidentally/purposely caught in nets and also feed on poison bait in the traps (Peng et al, 2017).


Next time, we will be covering a rare wolf that lives in the Ethiopian Highlands.



References

BirdLife International 2017. Calidris pygmaea (amended version of 2017 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T22693452A117520594.



Clark, N.A., Anderson, G.Q.A., Li, J., Syroechkovskiy, E.E., Tomkovich, P.S., Zöckler, C., Lee, R. & Green, R.E. 2018, "First formal estimate of the world population of the Critically Endangered spoon-billed sandpiper Calidris pygmaea", Oryx, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 137-146.



https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/spoon-billed-sandpiper-facts/ retrieved 9/03/2020



Peng, H., Anderson, G.Q.A., Chang, Q., Choi, C., Chowdhury, S.U., Clark, N.A., Gan, X., Hearn, R.D., Li, J., Lappo, E.G., Liu, W., Ma, Z., Melville, D.S., Phillips, J.F., Syroechkovskiy, E.E., Tong, M., Wang, S., Zhang, L. & Zockler, C. 2017, "The intertidal wetlands of southern Jiangsu Province, China - globally important for Spoon-billed Sandpipers and other threatened waterbirds, but facing multiple serious threats", Bird Conservation International, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 305-322.



picture references

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22693452/117520594#assessment-information Non-breeding Calidris pygmaea



https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/29/wildfowl-wetlands-trust-spoon-billed-sandpiper-conservation (baby bird)



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betula_nana (drawf birch)