Spoon-billed sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus)

Spoon-billed sandpiper wading, in summer plumage
Spoon-billed sandpiper wading, in summer plumage

Spoon-billed sandpiper fact file

Spoon-billed sandpiper description

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderCharadriiformes
FamilyScolopacidae
GenusEurynorhynchus (1)

An attractive little bird with a distinctive spoon-shaped bill, this sandpiper has winter plumage as pretty as its breeding colours. Non-breeding adults have pale brown-grey upperparts, with a white trim around each feather. The underparts are white and it lacks the colours seen in breeding adults, which have a russet red head, neck and breast streaked with brown, and dark upperparts with pale brown and red edging to the feathers. It calls quietly with a ‘preeep’ and a ‘wheeet(2).

Also known as
spoonbill sandpiper.
Size
Length: 14 – 16 cm (2)
Top

Spoon-billed sandpiper biology

This monogamous bird is strongly territorial and will return year after year to breed at the same nest site. The first males to arrive at the breeding grounds occupy the largest territories, although these shrink as additional males arrive and compete for space. Pairs meet and mate, laying eggs that are incubated for 19 to 23 days and hatch between early July and early August. After the chicks have emerged from their shells, each family moves to a new area for around two weeks until the chicks can fly. During this time both parents tend to their young but the male takes over in the final few days. They migrate to the wintering grounds at the end of August (2).

Searching amongst low vegetation, wet meadows and in water, the spoon-billed sandpiper uses its unusual bill to probe for small invertebrates. It will also forage by pushing its bill into the muddy sand of coastal areas. Chicks eat mainly small insects and seeds (2).

Top

Spoon-billed sandpiper range

With a scattered breeding range from the Chukotsk peninsula to the Kamchaka peninsula in northeastern Russia, the spoon-billed sandpiper migrates to its wintering grounds in South and Southeast Asia, where just a few small sites are consistently visited. Fewer than 1,000 individuals remain (2).

Top

Spoon-billed sandpiper habitat

The spoon-billed sandpiper breeds in coastal areas with sand and sparse vegetation, choosing nesting sites carefully (2). It always breeds within six kilometres of the sea (4). During the non-breeding season it is found on mudflats and saltpans (2).

Top

Spoon-billed sandpiper status

The spoon-billed sandpiper is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List (1) and is listed on Appendix I of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS or Bonn Convention) (3).

IUCN Red List species status – Critically Endangered

Top

Spoon-billed sandpiper threats

With very particular habitat requirements, high nest site fidelity and a small population, habitat loss has had a large impact on this species. As with many coastal regions, tidal mudflats are being reclaimed for industry or aquaculture. Pollution, climate change and human disturbance have also altered the habitat of this species, and hunting of shorebirds contributes to the decline of the spoon-billed sandpiper. Recent population surveys indicate an extremely rapid decline in this species, with reduced productivity, leading to fears that the population is ageing rapidly (2).

Top

Spoon-billed sandpiper conservation

The spoon-billed sandpiper is protected in several areas throughout its range but would benefit from enforced legal protection wherever it is present. Shorebird hunting is prolific and affects many species; a ban would have wide-ranging benefits. A Species Action Plan was produced for the spoon-billed sandpiper in 2008, but urgent conservation action is now required to prevent its extinction (2).

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Top

Find out more

For further information on the spoon-billed sandpiper and its conservation see:

Top

Authentication

This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact: arkive@wildscreen.org.ukTop

Glossary

Incubate
To keep eggs warm so that development is possible.
Invertebrate
Animals with no backbone.
Monogamous
Having only one mate during a breeding season, or throughout the breeding life of a pair.
Territorial
An animal, a pair of animals or a colony that occupies and defends an area.
Territories
Areas occupied and defended by an animal, a pair of animals or a colony.
Top

References

  1. IUCN Red List (October, 2009)
    http://www.iucnredlist.org
  2. BirdLife International (October, 2009)
    http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/search/species_search.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=3060&m=0
  3. Global Register of Migratory Species (May, 2008)
    http://www.groms.de
  4. Birds Korea (May, 2008)
    http://www.birdskorea.org/Birds/Miscellaneous/BK-BM-Spoon-billed-Sandpiper-Population-Crash.shtml

More »Related species

Solitary sandpiper (Tringa solitaria)Stilt sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica)Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago)Temminck's stint (Calidris temminckii)Wood sandpiper (Tringa glareola)Madagascar snipe (Gallinago macrodactyla)Far eastern curlew (Numenius madagascariensis)

This species is featured in:

This species is affected by global climate
change. To learn about climate change
and the species that are affected,
visit our climate change pages.

Please donate to ARKive today

Help us share the wonders of the natural world. Donate today!

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.

Get involved

ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!

X
Close

Image credit

Spoon-billed sandpiper wading, in summer plumage  
Spoon-billed sandpiper wading, in summer plumage

© Staffan Widstrand / naturepl.com

Nature Picture Library
5a Great George Street
Bristol
BS1 5RR
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 117 911 4675
Fax: +44 (0) 117 911 4699
info@naturepl.com
http://www.naturepl.com

X
Close

Link to this photo

ARKive species - Spoon-billed sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.

Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.

Read more about

X
Close

MyARKive

MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.

X
Close

Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials

Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.

Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:

  • view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
  • download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
  • teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.

End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.

Additional use of flagged material

Green flagged material 

Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.

Creative commons material

Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.

Any other use

Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.

Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.