Spoonbilled snipe (scientific name:Eurynorhynchus pygmeus）It is a bird of the genus Spoonbill of the snipe family,[20]It is also called spoon billed sandpiper, spoon billed sandpiper, piper and sandpiper.[21]Short legs;Head circle;The beak is short and the front end is spoon shaped.Eyebrow white;Iris brown;Beak black;Black feet;[22]The upper body is mainly black, with yellow to reddish brown feather margins;The lower body is white.The head, neck and chest of adult birds in breeding period are reddish brown with dark brown longitudinal lines, and adult birds in non breeding period are light brown gray with white feather margins.[23]
Spoonbilled snipes are distributed in Northern Europe and Asia,[24]It is found in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan and other places in China.[25]In the breeding season, they inhabit lakes, rivers, ponds, reed marsh banks and grasslands in tundra and tundra forest areas, and in winter, they mainly inhabit beaches, marshes and other wetlands.They mainly feed on invertebrates such as crustaceans, molluscs, annelids and insects.The breeding period is from June to July,[23]Usually 4 eggs are laid in each nest.Female and male parent birds hatch eggs together, and the incubation period is about 20 days.[26]
The population of the spoon billed snipe has declined significantly due to the massive reduction of the beach area of the migration area and the hunting in the wintering ground. This species has been included in the List of Terrestrial Wildlife with Important Ecological, Scientific and Social Values issued by the State Forestry and Grassland Administration of China on June 26, 2023;[26][29]It has been listed in the List of National Key Protected Wildlife in China and recognized as a national first-class protected animal;[27]It is listed in the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species - Critically Endangered (CR) species.[28]
The spoon billed snipe's forehead, head and back neck are chestnut red, with dark brown longitudinal lines.The middle part of Xi, shoulder and tertiary feather is black,Feather marginMaroon, making the back appear red maroon with black spots.XiThe lower feather margin is white, forming a V-shaped white line on the back.Black feather, large covert with wide white tip, secondary feather and inner sidePrimary flight featherThe white base, together with the white tip of the great covert, forms a broad white wing band on the wing.The coverts on the waist and tail are white on both sides and black in the middle.The central tail feathers are black, and the tail feathers on both sides are light gray.The mouth base and chin are white.The eye is dark first, with a black through eye pattern, and the through eye pattern is thin behind the eye.The eyebrow area, both sides of the head, face, front neck, neck side and upper chest are chestnut red, with fine brown longitudinal lines.The lower chest is light chestnut, with brown longitudinal lines and spots, sometimes forming a longitudinal band composed of brown spots on both sides.The rest of the lower body is white, including the wing coverts and armpit feathers.[1]
The winter feather is grayish brown on the top and upper body, slightly with dark feather axial lines.The back neck is light, and the wing coverts are gray.With narrow white feather margin.The forehead, eyebrow lines and lower body are bright white.There are brownish gray longitudinal lines on both sides of neck and upper chest.[1]
The head of the young bird is black brown, with chestnut skin yellow feather margin.The forehead and eyebrows are milky white.There are dark stripes in the eye and ear area.Xi, shoulder and tertiary flight feathers are black brown, most of them have yellow skin and white feather margins.The white feather margin forms white V-shaped spots on the back.The wing coverts are brown, with pale yellow and yellow red fur margins.The lower body is white, and the skin on both sides of the chest is yellow, with fine brown longitudinal lines.[1]
irisDark brown.The mouth is black, the base is wide and flat, and the tip expands into a spade shape.Black feet.[1]
Size measurement
Body length
Rostral peak
wing
tail
Tarsal metatarsal
140-160mm
10-12mm
85-106 mm
37-39mm
19-22mm
(Reference source for table contents:[1]）
Distinction of recent species
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Spoon billed snipe
Red bellied Sandpiper
features
Similar speciesRed bellied SandpiperAlthough the size and feather color are very similar, its mouth is not shovel shaped, and its foraging method is not to sweep around in the water with its mouth. The difference is obvious, and it is not difficult to identify in the wild.[1]
picture
Spoon billed snipe
Red bellied Sandpiper
Habitat environment
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The spoon billed snipe mainly inhabits the arctic coastal tundra swamps, grasslands, lakes, streams, ponds and other waters in the breeding period.In the non breeding period, it mainly inhabits the shoals and muddy land in the coastal and estuarine areas, or near the water body of the coast, and does not go deep into the inland waters.[1]
Life habits
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Spoonbilled snipes often live alone in shallow water near the water and on soft muddy ground.When walking, you often hang your head down, and constantly put your mouth into the water or mud. While walking, you use your mouth to sweep back and forth in the water or mud. Even when you turn back, your mouth does not have to come out of the water.[1]
Feeding habits:Mainly insects, insect larvae, crustaceans and other smallinvertebrateFor food.The main way of foraging is to use your mouth to sweep back and forth under water or in mud.Sometimes they peck directly on the ground.[1]
Migration:China is mainly a tourist bird, and some winter migratory birds.It moves through China from April to May in spring and from September to October in autumn.[1]
Distribution range
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It is mainly distributed in Chukchi Peninsula in northeastern Siberia, Russia, and winters in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, India, Indochina Peninsula, Singapore and Malay Peninsula. Weitou Bay in Quanzhou is also one of its wintering migration places.[19]
country of origin:Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russian Federation (East Asia Russia), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam.[3]
wander:Canada, Philippines, Singapore, United States.[3]
China:Shanghai, Fuzhou, Guangdong, Hainan Island, Hong Kong and Taiwan.[1]
Distribution Map of Spoonbilled Sandpiper
Reproductive mode
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Spoonbilled snipes breed inSiberiaThe breeding period is from June to July in the northeast coastal tundra zone.Nesting in tundra swamps, lakes, ponds, stream banks, coastal tundra and grassland.Especially like to nest on the mossy grassland near the freshwater pond.The nest is very simple. The parent birds dig a round pit on the soft tundra, with moss, withered grass and willow leaves inside.Each nest lays 3-4 eggs.The egg is light brown with small brown spots.The size of eggs is 28-33 mm × 20-23 mm.[1]
Protection status
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Protection level
Listed in the Red Book of the World's Endangered Birds of the International Committee for the Conservation of Birds (CBP).[1]
Listed in ChinaState Forestry AdministrationIssued on August 1, 2000《List of terrestrial wild animals under state protection that are beneficial or have important economic and scientific research value》(Item 171).[4]
The distribution area of spoon billed snipes is narrow and the number is scarce. It is estimated that the breeding population is 200-2800 pairs (Kolosov, 1983).[1]
84 wintering birds were recorded in Myanmar from 2007 to 2008, 73 in January 2009 (Clark, 2009) and 89 in 2010 (Z ö ckler et al. 2010b);From 2010 to 2012, there were 150-220 in Madaban Bay, Myanmar (Z ö ckler et al., 2010a, b, 2014) and about 155 in Madaban Shangwan in January 2015 (Clark, 2015).In February 2016, it was estimated that there were 100 in the upper reaches of Myanmar's Motama Bay (Anderson et al., 2016).[3]
From March to April 2010, a targeted survey was conducted along the coast of Bangladesh, and at least 49 animals were recorded (Bird et al. 2010, Chowdhury et al. 2011). The survey conducted along the coast of Bangladesh from December 2015 to February 2016 found that the number of animals at different locations along the coast was at least 76, the highest number recorded in Bangladesh since 1989 (Chowdhury, 2016).In the winter of 2015-2016, it is estimated that there are 10 adult birds in the Gulf of Thailand (K. Sutasha in lit. 2016).The recent survey results of Leizhou Peninsula show that there are about 50 wintering birds there (Martinez and Allcock, 2016; C.Z ö ckler, 2016).In 2015, a new site along the Mekne estuary was found, and there were at least 48 in February 2016 (Chowdhury, 2018).[3]
In autumn and spring, adult birds of this species are likely to migrate through Rudong, China (Mengxiu et al., 2012; Clark et al., 2014).It is the only known molting site of this species (Bai et al. 2015).In October 2011, there were 103 cases in Rudong County, China, 106 in October 2012, 140 in October 2013 (Z ö ckler and Li 2013), at least 226 in September 2014, and 177-190 in October 2014 (Z ö ckler, 2015), which may account for a large part of the global examples (M. Tong in lit. 2011).In October 2014, a maximum of 100 birds (Z ö ckler) were recorded in Tiaozini, Dongtai City, China.In October 2015, there were more than 100 birds in Tiaozini (Li and Chowdhury 2016).In May 2015, a survey on Rudong mudflat in China recorded at least 62 birds, including some birds with hair flying (Phillips 2015).The simulation work shows that China Rudong is too far away to allow the species to arrive from its breeding place by one-way flight, and work is under way to determine another stopover site in the Russian Far East (Clark, 2014).The Chinese coastal waterbird survey was conducted from 2005 to 2013 (Bai et al. 2015) and identified the following sites of international importance for this species: Liaoning (Yalu River Estuary Wetland), Jiangsu (Rudong Coast, Dongtai Coast, Dongling Coast), Fujian (Minjiangkou National Nature Reserve, Dadun Island and Weitou Bay) and Guangdong (Xitou Coast).[3]
On July 5, 2019, the 43rd World Heritage Conference listed the habitat of migratory birds in the Yellow Sea (Bohai Sea) in China (Phase I) on the World Heritage List, becoming the 14th World Natural Heritage Site and the first Marine World Natural Heritage Site in China.As the core area of the world natural heritage, the Tiaozini Wetland in Dongtai, Yancheng, will increase to 410 species of birds in 2021, of which there are only more than 600 critically endangered birds, spoon billed snipes, known as the "giant panda among birds". More than half of them forage and molt here in spring and autumn every year, and stay there for three months. It has become a veritable "bird paradise".[9][11-12]
In March 2020, Guangdong Provincial Forestry Bureau reported that 34 spoon billed snipes were found in Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve, Guangdong Province. They have been feeding on the beach for several days to reserve energy for migration.As one of the rarest birds in the world, there are 210 to 228 pairs of breeding spoon billed snipes, far fewer than giant pandas.This is a small wading bird that breeds in the frozen soil zone in northeastern Russia and winters in wetlands in East and Southeast Asia.[7]
On April 5, 2021, a spoon billed snipe, an extremely endangered species, was detected in Xuanmen Bay Wetland in Yuhuan, Zhejiang Province.This spoon billed snipe is a wild female bird that was banded in Chukchi breeding ground in Russia in 2016.It uses its spoon like beak to feed in shallow water and reserve energy for migration.[8]
On October 8-10, 2021, the special program "Looking for the Spoonbilled Sandpiper" on the all media platform of CCTV headquarters was broadcast for three consecutive days, focusing on the vivid practice of implementing Xi Jinping's ecological civilization thought in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province.[10]
In November 2021, the Haikou Vulnerable Wetland Research Institute released news that a spoonbill was recently found in Danzhou Bay, Hainan, and visited the site, where a ringed spoonbill was photographed and recorded. This is the first time that a ringed spoonbill was found in Hainan, which is of great significance to the study of the population number and habits of the spoonbill.[13]
On September 25, 2022, the investigators of Fujian Birdwatching Society observed a spoon billed snipe during the survey of birds in the Minjiang Estuary wetland.This is the first time that Fujian Province recorded this globally critically endangered species this autumn and winter.[16]
Domestic and international cooperation in conservation action has achieved remarkable results in the special research, habitat protection and public publicity of spoon billed snipes, which has curbed the rapid decline of nearly 26% of the population of spoon billed snipes every year. In recent years, the population has basically stabilized at 700-800.[17]
In March 2023, members of Quanzhou Bird Watching Society found a spoon billed snipe with light green H0 flag on its feet in Weitou Bay, Jinjiang.This spoon billed snipe is a naturally hatched Russian ring banding spoon billed snipe in 2017. This is the first time that it has been re recorded since it was born in Russia in 2017, which is the first record in China.[18]
Endangered causes
This species is listed as critically endangered, because its number is very small, and it is experiencing an extremely rapid decline.This is because many factors, including reproduction, passage and habitat loss in wintering areas, are affected by interference, pollution, hunting and climate change.Young birds have always been very low, causing people to worry about the rapid aging of the number;There is an urgent need to take action to prevent the extinction of this species.[3]
Protection plan
Broken shell young spoon billed snipe[6]
Since 2011, the UK has launched an emergency protection plan for spoon billed snipes.Since it is difficult to transport newly hatched chicks from Russia to the UK, experts decided to directly transport bird eggs to the UK for hatching in 2012.According to the project leader, a few hours after the first batch of spoon billed snipe eggs were transported to the UK by helicopter and plane for a week, the first spoon billed snipe has broken its shell and more chicks are hatching.At that time, they will be fertile and ready to raise the next generation;The removal of eggs in the nest will encourage the parent birds to lay a new nest of eggs, virtually expanding their population.[6]
