Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea Scientific name definitions

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper is an enigmatic and Critically Endangered shorebird that breeds in the remote tundra of northeastern Russia, primarily along the coastal areas of the Chukotka Peninsula, and migrates thousands of kilometers through the East Asian-Australasian Flyway to winter in coastal South and Southeast Asia, including Southern China. Key wintering sites include coastal Bangladesh, Myanmar, southern China, Thailand, and Vietnam, where it feeds in dynamic estuarine environments and intertidal mudflats.

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper is most notable for its namesake unique spatulate bill , which is adapted for sifting through mud and shallow water to find food. Its plumage changes seasonally, with breeding adults displaying vibrant rufous tones on the face and upperparts, in contrast to the paler gray plumage during the winter months. Juveniles are particularly challenging to distinguish from other similar sandpipers, though they tend to show more white on the face and darker markings on the head and ear coverts.

The species has experienced dramatic population declines, with the most recent 2024 estimates suggesting a mean global population of approximately 443 mature individuals (range 331–554), and the population continues to decline at an average rate of 5% per year (1 Green, R. E., K. K. S. Leung, N. A. Clark, G. Q. A. Anderson, K. Brides, Q. Chang, S. U. Chowdhury, J. A. Clark, M. Foysal, C. Zöckler, Y. Gerasimov, G. A. Gale, N. Iakushev, J. Khamaye, E. Lappo, D. S. Melville, P. S. Tomkovich, E. Weston, J. Weston, and Z. Yang. (2024). New estimate of the trend in world population size of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper suggests continuing decline. Wader Study 131(2): 122–131. Close ). The primary threats to the species include habitat destruction, hunting and bycatch, and other human disturbances. Conservation efforts, such as headstarting programs where eggs are collected, hatched, and juveniles are released into the wild, along with hunting mitigation at key wintering and stopover sites and the development of new protected areas, have been introduced to help slow the species' decline.