Saving the Spoon-Billed Sandpiper
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The spoon-billed sandpiper is among the world’s most endangered birds. Scientists estimate that there are only 450 to 1000 mature spoon-billed sandpipers remaining in the wild and their population is declining. Now, BirdLife International is raising funds and taking action to save this endangered bird.
Spoon-billed sandpipers are small wading shorebirds with a distinct spatulate bill. During the breeding season, adult spoon-billed sandpipers are donned in red-brown feathers on their head, neck and breast. They have a black-brown upper body and a pale rufous fringe. Outside of the breeding season, the sandpipers’ red-brown feathers fade to a pale brownish-grey and their belly feathers turn white. Spoon-billed sandpipers feed by pecking and probing mudflats exposed at low tide. During the breeding season, spoon-billed sandpipers occupy specialized habitat in northeastern Russia. They nest near lagoons and freshwater pools and forage at nearby estuaries or mudflats. In fall, the spoon-billed sandpiper populations migrate southward along the western rim of the Pacific Ocean to their wintering grounds in Bangladesh and Myanmar. There they occupy habiats such as tidal mudflats and saltpans.
Sadly, habitat destruction in all parts of their range (breeding grounds, wintering grounds and migratory stopovers) has devastated spoon-billed sandpiper numbers. The species is also threatened by hunting and climate change. Since the species experiences low breeding success, and few fledgelings survive to adulthood, their population is vulnerable and shrinking.
To combat the many threats facing spoon-billed sandpipers, BirdLife International has launched a project called “Saving Spoony’s Chinese Wetlands”. The program has been selected as part of Disney’s Friends for Change initiative and will receive at least $25,000 in support from Disney’s Friends for Change initiative. That support could increase to $50,000 or even $100,000 if enough people stop by the Disney website and vote for BirdLife’s “Saving Spoony’s Chinese Wetlands” project.