Be sure to sign up at 10,000 Birds for your chance to win an original David Sibley painting of Spoon-billed Sandpiper – and help bird conservation efforts at the same time.
New photos of bill shape and new survey results in southeast Asia.
Jeremiah Trimble has posted a fascinating photo he took in Thailand here. It shows a Spoon-billed Sandpiper with its mouth wide open. The structure inside the spoon-shaped tip seems to be a more or less normal sandpiper bill with flat lateral extensions on either side! This is utterly unlike the bill structure of true spoonbills, and raises more questions about the function of the odd bill shape of this amazing bird.
And showing more details here is a photo by Phil Round of the underside of the bill of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper trapped for banding in Thailand several years ago.
Spoon-billed Sandpiper trapped for banding in Thailand, photo copyright Phil Round, used by permission, background modified for clarity.
In Myanmar and Bangladesh a couple of new surveys are now complete. You can read Graham Chisholm’s account of some of the field census research in Myanmar in Feb 2010 here. And Jez Bird, Alex Lees, and Rob Martin report the first installment of their survey in Bangladesh here. Both surveys found fairly good numbers of Spoon-billed Sandpipers – 25 in Bangladesh and at least 71 in Myanmar – in areas where miles of habitat remain to be surveyed. Still perilously endangered, but it’s a relief to know that numbers are not any lower.
Related posts and pages:
- Off to chase Spoon-billed Sandpiper I’ll be in Thailand for the next two weeks, hoping to fulfill a decades-long dream...
- Spoon-billed Sandpiper Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurhynorhynchus pygmeus Spoon-billed Sandpiper at Pak Thale, Thailand, Feb 2010. Photo copyright David...
- In search of Spoon-billed Sandpiper Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Original gouache painting copyright David Sibley. Join me on a WINGS/Heritage Expeditions cruise...
- Donate to help Spoon-billed Sandpiper Original painting of Spoon-billed Sandpiper, auction at right. Painted in gouache on Bristol Board based...
- Thailand Sandpiper Info Center – Grand Opening Thanks to all who donated (and to Audubon California for facilitating), the Sandpiper Information Center...
- Finding Spoon-billed Sandpipers in Thailand Spoon-billed Sandpiper at Pak Thale, Thailand. Feb 2010. Photo copyright David Sibley. My trip to...
- New efforts to save Spoon-billed Sandpiper Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Original gouache painting copyright by David Sibley. There is more evidence of the...
- Bill shape and foraging habits of Spoon-billed Sandpiper The Spoon-billed Sandpiper has one of the most striking and unusual bill shapes of any...
Hello David,
You’ve just made my day! After I last saw you in the heat of the Pak Thale saltpans, I decided I just had to sculpt a Spooner, as it would help me understand the wee beastie a little bit better. Try as I might, I couldn’t find any shots or reference to the underside of the bill. and this wasn’t what I was expecting! Thanks very much.
Some more foraging, mostly the deep-probing, of some of the same individuals from Pak Thale this year here – http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/spoon-billed-sandpiper-eurynorhynchus-pygmeus
Hi David
The next version of the diary should be online next week, with a report published in the next edition of Forktail. I’ve posted videos of foraging SbS on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/alexanderlees#p/a/u/1/zdmTSGkt5co
and
here: http://www.youtube.com/user/alexanderlees#p/a/u/2/S1VU12fmOCE
cheers
Alex
That pic!!!