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)
