Land reclamation threatens extremely rare spoon-billed sandpipers in China

Land reclamation threatens extremely rare spoon-billed sandpipers in China

One of the world’s rarest birds — the tiny spoon-billed sandpiper— could soon lose a critical habitat to land reclamation projects, warns a new report by Greenpeace. Every year, the reddish-brown spoon-billed sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) makes a 5,000-mile long journey, flying from its breeding grounds in Arctic Russia to its wintering sites in places like southern […]

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Record Black-faced Spoonbill count, despite deteriorating habitat

Record Black-faced Spoonbill count, despite deteriorating habitat

The annual International Black-faced Spoonbill Census recorded 3,356 individuals in January 2016, an increase of 2.6% from the last year’s 3,272 individuals, and a record recent count for this Endangered Asian waterbird. An annual census of Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor has been ongoing since 2003. This year’s census was held on 15-17 January, with the […]

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August Migrant Shorebirds

August Migrant Shorebirds

I visited Daijyugarami, Saga prefecture, last Friday to see what birds had started migrating through. The highlights were a solitary juvenile Asian Dowitcher, a Long-billed Dowitcher in breeding plumage, a Red Knot also in breeding plumage, a Broad-billed Sandpiper, a Long-toed Stint, four Black-faced Spoonbill, one Saunders’s Gull, a few Black-tailed Godwit and plenty of […]

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