by John Welford

Created on: November 01, 2011   Last Updated: November 07, 2011

The spoon-billed sandpiper (eurynorhynchus pygmeus), or spoonbill sandpiper, is one of the world’s rarest birds and it is in critical danger of extinction. Fortunately, efforts are being made to save it and there is a good chance that they will succeed.

Appearance

The spoon-billed sandpiper is 14-16 centimetres in length (5.5-6 inches) which is similar to that of a house sparrow. However, apart from its distinctive plumage, it could hardly be mistaken for a sparrow given its much longer legs and very unusual spatulate bill which it uses to search for food in shallow watery mud.

During the breeding season, adult birds (both males and females) have a reddish-brown head and upper body, streaked with brown, and are largely white below but with some brown speckling. The upperparts and wings are dark with brown and red edging to the wings. At other times of the year the red colouring turns to brown and the upperparts to pale brown-grey with white trimming to the feathers.

Habitat

Spoon-billed sandpipers are coastal birds that never breed more than six kilometres from the sea. Their breeding sites, in north-east Russia, are carefully selected in sandy locations with sparse vegetation that is also close to mudflats for feeding purposes. The birds return to the same breeding site year after year.

They winter in south-east Asia and the Bay of Bengal, where they are found on coastal mudflats and saltpans. Their particular requirement is for very shallow water, such as on the outermost edges of river deltas.

However, only a few sites are regularly visited by the steadily dwindling population of birds, and some sites that were formerly home to spoon-billed sandpipers have not had any sightings in recent years.

Feeding

Spoon-billed sandpipers feed on small invertebrates which they find either by probing amongst low vegetation or by shovelling through the shallow mud with their specially adapted bills. Chicks feed mainly on insects and seeds.

Breeding

Spoon-billed sandpipers fly 5,000 miles between their winter and summer quarters, arriving in north-east Russia when the snows are still melting in late Spring. The males perform display flights to attract a mate above the intended nest site. The nest is only a scrape in the ground, where the female will lay three or four eggs which hatch between 19 and 23 days later.

After the chicks have hatched the family moves away from the nest site to a place where they can be fed in safety by both parents for around two weeks, by

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