The spoon-billed sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea) is a small bird that lives and lays eggs on the coasts of the Bering Sea. It travels to Southeast Asia during the winter. This species is in danger of becoming extinct. Since the 1970s, the number of birds that breed each year has dropped greatly. By the year 2000, it was estimated that between 350 and 500 spoon-billed sandpipers bred each year.
Taxonomy
The scientific name Platalea pygmea was first introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. In 1821, Sven Nilsson reclassified it into the genus Eurynorhynchus. Today, it is grouped with the calidrid sandpipers. Within the genus Calidris, the spoon-billed sandpiper is most closely related to the red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis).
Description
The most noticeable feature of this bird is its spoon-shaped beak. During the breeding season, adult birds have a reddish-brown head, neck, and chest with dark brown stripes. Their upperparts are blackish with light brown and pale reddish edges. Non-breeding adults do not have the reddish color, but their upperparts are light brown-gray with white edges on the wing feathers. Their underparts are white, and their legs are black. The bird measures 14–16 cm (5.5–6.3 in) in length.
Measurements include: wing length 98–106 mm, beak length 19–24 mm, beak tip width 10–12 mm, leg length 19–22 mm, and tail length 37–39 mm.
The spoon-billed sandpiper makes contact calls such as a soft "preep" sound or a high-pitched "wheer." During mating displays, the bird sings a buzzing sound that gradually decreases in pitch, like "preer-prr-prr." The male performs a display flight that includes short hovering flights, circling, and quick dives while singing.
Distribution and habitat
The spoon-billed sandpiper breeds in coastal areas and nearby inland regions on the Chukchi Peninsula and along the narrow strip of land connecting the Kamchatka Peninsula. It travels along the Pacific coast through Japan, Korea, and China to its main wintering areas in southern and southeastern Asia. These areas include India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Peninsular Malaysia, and Singapore.
Genetic studies of the complete set of genes from South Korean and Chinese spoon-billed sandpipers showed they are closely related to the species Arenaria interpres due to similarities in the genes that help build proteins.
In March 2024, a spoon-billed sandpiper was seen at Balanga, Bataan mudflat in the Philippines.
Behaviour and ecology
The spoon-billed sandpiper moves its bill side to side while walking forward with its head low. This bird builds nests from June to July in coastal areas of the tundra, selecting spots with grass near freshwater pools. It eats moss found in tundra regions, as well as small animals such as mosquitoes, flies, beetles, and spiders. At times, it also consumes marine invertebrates like shrimp and worms.
Conservation
This bird is critically endangered, with fewer than 2,500 mature individuals—possibly fewer than 1,000. The main dangers to its survival are the loss of habitat during breeding and the destruction of tidal flats in its wintering and migratory areas. A key place where the birds stop to rest, Saemangeum in South Korea, has already been partially filled in, and the remaining wetlands are at risk of being filled in the near future. Studies using satellite images show that up to 65% of important spoon-billed sandpiper habitat in China, South Korea, and North Korea has been destroyed by land development. A 2010 study suggests that hunting in Burma by traditional bird trappers is a major cause of the bird’s decline.
Protected areas where the bird stops or winters include Yancheng in China, Mai Po Marshes in Hong Kong, and Point Calimere and Chilka Lake in India. In 2016, scientists estimated the global population of mature spoon-billed sandpipers at 240–456 individuals, or at most 228 pairs.
Previously classified as Endangered, recent research shows its numbers are decreasing rapidly, and it is now classified as Critically Endangered. In 2008, it was reclassified because its population dropped to 120–200 pairs between 2009 and 2010, a decline of 88% since 2002. This means the bird’s population is decreasing by about 26% each year. The filling in of the Saemangeum estuary in South Korea removed an important stopover site, and hunting in Burma has become a major threat. Scientists warn the bird may become extinct in 10–20 years.
In November 2011, 13 spoon-billed sandpipers arrived at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) reserve in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, to begin a breeding program. The birds hatched from eggs collected in the remote northeastern Russian tundra and spent 60 days in Moscow Zoo in quarantine before traveling 8,000 km. Scientists used artificial incubation and captive rearing, called headstarting, to improve survival rates from less than 25% to over 75%. In 2019, two birds born in the UK were the first in a conservation program. In 2013, conservationists hatched 20 chicks in Chukotka.
An education kit in English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Burmese is being used to teach about the bird and environmental conservation in the countries it lives in.
In 2025, the Natural Resources and Planning Bureau of Nantong released a draft plan to build a port logistics base and industrial area in two plots (TZW-10 and TZW-11) in Tongzhou Bay. Conservationists say these areas are important stopover sites for migratory shorebirds, including the spoon-billed sandpiper. Environmental groups and the public raised concerns that the plan does not include protections or ways to reduce harm to wildlife and habitats. Coastal wetlands near Nantong, including Xiaoyangkou, Fengli, Dongling, Tongzhou Bay, Li’a Mountain, and the northern branch of the Yangtze estuary, are part of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. These wetlands provide stopover sites for nearly 80 species and hundreds of thousands of migratory waterbirds each year. Thirteen shorebird species, including the spoon-billed sandpiper, little stint, and bar-tailed godwit, have more than 1% of their global populations in these areas, meeting the Ramsar Convention’s criteria for wetlands of international importance.