Bad at Goodbyes

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

Species Information 02:05

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper is a critically endangered migratory avian, a bird native to breeding ground in far north-eastern Russia in the Chukotka autonomous district, that migrates to summer in Southeast Asia, in Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar and China. Its scientific name is Calidris pygmaea and it was first described in 1758.

Description

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper is a small shorebird whose most notable feature is, of course, their spatulate bill. Spatulate just means shaped like a spatula. The bill is broad and rounded at the tip, it looks smooshed. Think of the flat, wide end of a kitchen spatula. The tip is roughly half an inch wide, narrowing near the base.

 

The bird itself is small, measuring about 6 inches in length and weighing about an ounce.

 

Over the course of the year, the Spoon-billed Sandpipers plumage shifts in coloration. During the breeding season, adults display a reddish-brown hue, with dark brown streaks on their head, neck, and breast. Then, in the non-breeding season, their plumage shifts to a more subdued pale brownish-grey, with white underparts.

 

Their legs are slender and near black, with an anisodactyl toe arrangement, that is three digits pointed forward and one shortened hallux, pointed back.

 

They have dark black eyes. Their bill is black.

Diet

This spatulate bill is not unique in the avian kingdom though it is rather rare. It is a feeding adaptation. The Spoon-billed Sandpiper feeds on small shrimp, crab, fish, insects, and insect larvae, found in the soft mud and shallow water of coastal tidal flats. The bill has very sensitive touch receptors called Herbst corpuscles that sense the subtle vibrations of prey under wet sand or soil. This spatulate shape and the touch receptors allows for a range of feeding strategies:

 

Pecking: This is simply picking up food items directly from the ground. Spear-hunting: This is a sudden, forceful strike of their bill into shallow water, used to capture larger prey like crab and even fish, that the Sandpiper has tracked visually. Shoveling: In which the bill is used, like a shovel to flip mud, dirt and vegetation to access potential prey beneath. Also, sweep-stitching: a specialized technique where the bird sweeps its bill from side to side, with the bill remaining in the soft mud, feeling for and loosening buried prey. Burst-stitching: is similar to sweep-stitching, but with less lateral movement, more vertical, up and down movement a kind of splashing, removing the bill from water or mud on each sweep, dislodging prey. And lastly, Hoovering: a rapid, shallow movement with only the very edge of the bill tip inserted into very thin layers of mud or water, again for seeking and displacing prey.

 

Feeding is timed with the tides. As the tide recedes, newly exposed mudflats, with shallow or even no water, are their primary feeding grounds. That said, Spoon-billed Sandpiper are omnivorous and in their summer breeding grounds, they will also consume mosses, grass-seeds and berries.

Reproduction

At their breeding grounds, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper forms monogamous relationships, with breeding pairs persisting for multiple seasons.

 

Males will perform aerial displays to attract a mate, a midair courtship dance involving rapid flight accompanied by distinctive, high-pitched vocalizations.

 

We have some recordings of Spoon-billed Sandpiper vocalizations. It is not clear if these are specifically courtship calls, but the recordings are taken at their breeding grounds, during breeding season. This is a recording made by Jens Kirkeby on the coast of the Bering Sea in Chukotka, Russia, in 2019:

 

Let’s listen:

[BIRD CALLS]

 

So, once a pair bond forms, they construct simple nests, in shallow mossy divots in the ground, that they line with leaves. The female Spoon-billed Sandpiper lays a clutch of four eggs. Both parents will incubate the eggs, keeping them warm and protected over an incubation period lasting about three weeks. Once the chicks hatch, both parents share the task of early care of the young, though the chicks mature rapidly, reaching independence only roughly 20 days after hatching. 

Habitat

Courtship, breeding, nesting and rearing occurs in June and July, in the extreme northeast of the Siberian tundra near the coast of the Bering Sea, in the Chukotka district of Russia. Then in late July and August, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper undertakes an exceptional migration. Traveling about 5000 miles, over about 4 months, to their wintering grounds in Southeast Asia. A journey that includes stopovers in Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and China, with flocks remaining roughly less than 5 miles from the ocean throughout. Feeding at tidal mudflats on the way; pausing to molt, shedding their red-ish breeding feathers. And then by November or December they reach their wintering grounds on the coasts of Myanmar, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka.

 

Four to five months later, in late March, early April, they make the trip north again. Generally returning to the exact same breeding ground as the previous year. So this is roughly 10,000 miles round trip, in a roughly 10 month timespan, for a bird with a 12 inch wingspan.

 

As a long distance migrant, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper does not have a singular localized native habitat per say, but traverses and relies on a range of ecosystems. Their breeding ground in eastern Russia is a tundra grassland of mosses, willows, and scrub near the coast, nesting less than 4 miles from the sea. In these June and July months that the Sandpiper spends in the arctic, daytime temps average in the 50s°F and nighttime temps in the 40s°F. Here in summer, because this region is so far north, it receives over 20 hours of daylight, the sun never fully sets.

 

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper shares its breeding grounds with Northern Raven, Wolverine, Long-toed Stint, Reindeer, Spotted Seal, Ringed Seal, Brown Bear, Bearded Seal, Emperor Goose, Whooper Swan, Arctic Fox, Vega Gull, Dunlin, Lemming, Arctic Tern, Ribbon Seal, Pacific Loon, Grey Plover, Pacific Walrus and many many more.

 

And then in the winter the Spoon-billed Sandpiper resides across a range of Southeast Asia, near the equator, near the coast. These are sandy tidal and intertidal zones with shallow water and minimal vegetation: mudflats, salt flats, river deltas, and tidal estuaries, where river freshwater meets the sea. Temperatures in these regions generally see highs in the low 90s°F and lows in the low 70°s. Often these mudflats and estuaries see large tidal shifts. For example, one of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper’s winter sites at the Gulf of Mottama off Myanmar sees a 20 foot swing between low tide and high tide, revealing flats dense with prey.

 

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper shares these wintering grounds with Greater Sand Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Eden’s whale, Crab, Common Greenshank, Indo-Pacific Finless Porpoise, Mangrove, Wallago Catfish, Far Eastern Curlew, Eurasian Curlew, Ghost Shrimp, Mudskipper and many many more.

In The Dream

————

In the dream,

 

To hold a sense of home so fundamental, a memory etched deep, a genetic cartography crossing 5000 miles.

And in the dream to be a thing so resolute, to be compelled by a potent intuition, a summoning from ancient cycles:

Go now, go north, go home, sing until your beloved finds you.

 

In the dream.

————

Threats

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper faces a range of threats throughout its annual migratory cycle, impacting both its breeding and non-breeding ranges.

 

Habitat loss has been a major driver of the species’ decline: Specifically human coastal development of tidal flats for housing, tourism and agriculture.

 

Additionally, the human-introduced invasive plant, smooth cordgrass is rapidly colonizing mudflats across the Sandpipers range. Smooth cordgrass has an extensive root system and grows in dense stands, creating a thick mat of vegetation that physically obstructs the sandpiper’s ability to probe the mud for food.   

 

Recent conservation efforts have reduced targeted hunting but the threat of accidental capture in fishing nets resulting in injury or death, persists. Relatedly, the use of poison bait, intended for other species, has resulted in Spoon-billed Sandpiper mortality.

 

Human-induced climate change, from persistent over-reliance on fossil fuels is an imminent threat. Across its range, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper rarely strays from the coastline and so global warming resulting in sea-level rise is already affecting these habitats, threatening the bird’s food source.

Conservation

Fortunately, several key sites within the Spoon-billed Sandpiper’s range have been designated as protected areas. These include breeding grounds in Russia, on the Chukotka Peninsula, and crucial stopovers and wintering areas like Yancheng in China, Mai Po in Hong Kong, Point Calimere in India, and Pak Thale in Thailand. The Gulf of Mottama in Myanmar, where roughly two-thirds of the species is thought to winter, was recently declared a protected wetlands.

 

Awareness and outreach programs have been implemented across the Spoon-billed Sandpiper’s range, to address threats like hunting and accidental capture. These include establishing local education groups, negotiating hunting reductions, and developing ecotourism initiatives to provide alternative income sources.

 

In 2012, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust initiated a headstarting program for the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. In the wild, only about 15% of hatchlings survive to adulthood. So the headstarting program collects eggs from the remote Chukotka nesting sites, incubates and hatches the eggs in captivity nearby, rearing the chicks until they’ve fledged, and then releasing them. Tracking surveys have found that with headstarting 75% of the hatchlings reach adulthood.

 

Nevertheless the Spoon-billed Sandpiper has been considered critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2008 and their population is currently in decline.

 

Our most recent counts estimate there are less than 550 Spoon-billed Sandpiper left in the wild.

Citations 25:24

Information for today’s show about the Spoon-billed Sandpiper was compiled from:

 

Animal Diversity Web at the University of Michigan. Labuda, C. 2023. “Eurynorhynchus pygmeus”. https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Eurynorhynchus_pygmeus/ 

 

Bird Conservation International v.20, no. 2 (2010): 95–111. Zöckler, Christoph, Evgeny E. Syroechkovskiy, And Philip W. Atkinson. “Rapid and Continued Population Decline in the Spoon-Billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus Pygmeus Indicates Imminent Extinction Unless Conservation Action Is Taken.” – https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270910000316 

 

Bird Conservation International v.26, no. 4 (2016): 476–89. Zöckler, Christoph, Alison E. Beresford, Gillian Bunting, Sayam U. Chowdhury, Nigel A. Clark, Vivian Wing Kan Fu, Tony Htin Hla, et al. “The Winter Distribution of the Spoon-Billed Sandpiper Calidris Pygmaeus.” – https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270915000295 

 

Bird Conservation International v.28, no. 2 (2018): 251–62. Chowdhury, Sayam U., Mohammad Foysal, M Abdullah Abu Diyan, And Sakib Ahmed. “Discovery of an Important Wintering Site of the Critically Endangered Spoon-Billed Sandpiper Calidris Pygmaea in the Meghna Estuary, Bangladesh.” – https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270917000247 

 

Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. van Gils, J., P. Wiersma, C. J. Sharpe, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). – https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.spbsan1.01 

 

Diversity v. 15, no. 4: 584. Loktionov, Egor Y., Roland A. Digby, Nickolay N. Yakushev, Ivan A. Shepelev, Jodie P. Clements, Pavel S. Tomkovich, Nigel S. Jarrett, Nigel A. Clark, Rhys E. Green, Elena G. Lappo, and et al. 2023. “Evaluating the Impact of Headstarting on the Critically Endangered Spoon-Billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea”. – https://doi.org/10.3390/d15040584 

 

Frontiers in Marine Science. v. 9 (2022). Lu Xiuyuan, Yang Hongyan, Piersma Theunis, Sun Lili, Chen Qing, Jia Yifei, Lei Guangchun, Cheng Li, Rao Xinpeng. ”Food resources for Spoon-billed Sandpipers (Calidris pygmaea) in the mudflats of Leizhou Bay, southern China”. – https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1005327 

 

Global Ecology and Conservation Volume 35, 2022, e02077. Pyae Phyo Aung, Graeme M. Buchanan, Philip D. Round, Christoph Zöckler, Chris Kelly, Naruemon Tantipisanuh, George A. Gale. “Foraging microhabitat selection of Spoon-billed Sandpiper in the Upper Gulf of Mottama, Myanmar.” – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02077 

 

IUCN – https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22693452/154738156

 

Oryx 52, no. 1 (2018): 137–46. Clark, Nigel A., Guy Q. A. Anderson, Jing Li, Evgeny E. Syroechkovskiy, Pavel S. Tomkovich, Christoph Zöckler, Rebecca Lee, and Rhys E. Green. “First Formal Estimate of the World Population of the Critically Endangered Spoon-Billed Sandpiper Calidris Pygmaea.” – https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605316000806 

 

Oryx 54, no. 1 (2020): 23–29. Aung, Pyae-Phyo, Saw Moses, Nigel A. Clark, Guy Q.A. Anderson, Geoff M. Hilton, Graeme M. Buchanan, Christoph Zöckler, and Rhys E. Green. “Recent Changes in the Number of Spoon-Billed Sandpipers Calidris Pygmaea Wintering on the Upper Gulf of Mottama in Myanmar.” – https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318000698 

 

Sound Recordings. Xeno-Canto. Jens Kirkeby, XC486596 –  http://xeno-canto.org/486596

 

Wader Study. v. 124. 99-104. Kelly, Chris & Zöckler, Christoph & Scampion, Baz & Syroechkovskiy, Evgeny. (2017). Hammer, filter or microphone: How does the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea use its bill to feed?. – http://dx.doi.org/10.18194/ws.00076 

 

Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust – https://www.wwt.org.uk/our-work/projects/spoon-billed-sandpipers

 

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon-billed_sandpiper 

 

For more information about Spoon-billed Sandpiper conservation see the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at https://wwt.org.uk/

Music 27:20

Pledge 35:19

I honor the lifeforce of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. I will commit its name to my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our planet with this being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species. I grieve.

 

And so, in the name of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of plant and animal kin and their habitat, by individuals, corporations, and governments.

 

I forever pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.