posted February 1st, 2010; last edited April 8th, 2010 –– David Sibley

Off to chase Spoon-billed Sandpiper

I’ll be in Thailand for the next two weeks, hoping to fulfill a decades-long dream to see Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Like many birders, I have always been fascinated by shorebirds – their subtle and elegant shapes and colors, the identification challenges they present, and most of all by their powers of flight and their long migrations. Among this group the tiny Spoon-billed Sandpiper has to be one of the most unusual and charismatic.

The species has always been rare, with a limited range, and the total population of the species has declined steadily and alarmingly in the last 15 years. From an estimated 5000 individuals in 1997, down to as few as 2000 individuals (1000 breeding pairs) in 2000, then about 700 individuals (350 breeding pairs) in 2005. The summer of 2009 continued the trend – with numbers down at all nesting sites surveyed and it is assumed that the world’s population is now in the very low hundreds.

I’ll be adding more about the species here (hopefully with some field sketches and observations) after I return in mid-February. If you’d like to learn more in the meantime, I recommend an excellent series of interviews on the blog 10,000 Birds:

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Part One

Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Part two – interview with Christoph Zöckler

Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Part three – interview with Nial Moores

Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Part four – interview with Phil Round

Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Part five – Interview with Pieter Wessels