IMPORTANT DISCOVERY: New Nesting Area Found for World’s Rarest Migratory Shorebird—the Spoon-billed Sandpiper 

By Scott Hecker, ICFC Director of Bird Conservation
September 2024

On April 4th, 2024, a critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper carrying the world’s smallest satellite transmitter departed Thailand, where it had spent the winter. The bird, known as "K9" from the code on its orange leg band, carried the hopes of conservationists around the world. The hope was that K9’s journey would reveal new nesting areas in northeastern Russia, helping efforts to prevent this unique species—with its distinctive spoon-shaped bill—from going extinct. 

The transmitter had been carefully glued to K9’s back feathers. This ensured that the device would fall off naturally during molting without harming the bird. In the weeks after, dozens of shorebird biologists watched the live satellite data with bated breath—and K9 didn’t disappoint. 

On April 4th, K9 embarked on a four-day flight, covering 1,600 km, and made its first stop in Guangdong Province, China. There, a local birder spotted and identified it. Next, K9 made another leap, this time 500 km to Fujian Province. These two sites were previously unknown as stopover locations for Spoon-billed Sandpipers. A week later, birdwatchers in Fujian documented K9, and the bird continued its journey that evening, heading 1,000 km north to Jiangsu Province. By April 25th, K9 had traveled 3,100 km, reaching the southern coast of the Yellow Sea. It was just halfway through its migration! 

An 800-km flight took K9 across the Yellow Sea to North Korea. Then, in what seemed like the home stretch, K9 flew more than 2,000 km to Sakhalin, Russia, and another 2,000 km north to the Kamchatka/Chukotka border. On June 4th, after an arduous 8,000-km journey, K9 finally reached its destination. 

K9 had one final surprise for scientists: the bird didn’t settle in its usual coastal habitat. Instead, it chose a barren river valley—a previously unknown nesting site. To protect the species from egg collectors, the location remains undisclosed. 

 

A Lifeline for the Spoon-billed Sandpiper: How ICFC got involved 

In 2016, Anne Lambert, ICFC co-founder, asked me if there was anything we could do to help save the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. With fewer than 200 breeding pairs remaining and the species on track to go extinct within 10 years, we knew immediate action was needed. 

Through my network of international shorebird conservationists, I connected with Sayam Chowdhury in Bangladesh, where many Spoon-billed Sandpipers spend their winters. Sayam was perfectly positioned to lead the fight for this bird, and ICFC quickly began funding his efforts to stop illegal poaching. Former poachers were hired as “shorebird guardians”, and community agreements helped provide alternative livelihoods for those involved in the shorebird trade.  The focus has been on illegal netting and snaring at five critical sites in China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Thailand. Many endangered shorebirds, including the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, are captured for trade in local markets. Thanks to our efforts, thousands of illegal nets have been removed. 

Despite this success, we still only knew the whereabouts of a third of Spoon-billed Sandpipers during their migration. We needed to find the rest, which meant tracking these small, elusive birds across thousands of kilometers of coastal mudflats. 

A Tech Solution 

The solution, financed by others, came in the form of the world’s smallest solar-powered satellite transmitter, hand-built by Paul Howey of Microwave Telemetry in California. Weighing just 1.2 grams, it was light enough to be attached to the back feathers of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper without the need for a harness. Although the transmitters, costing $5,000 each, would be shed during the birds’ next moult, the data gathered could mean the difference between survival and extinction. 

Since 2016, transmitters have been placed on a dozen or so Spoon-billed Sandpipers during their southward migration from the breeding grounds.  This has revealed new non-breeding sites, from South Korea to Myanmar. ICFC’s efforts to stop illegal netting have expanded to include these newly discovered sites. However, despite these successes, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper population continues to decline—though not as rapidly as before. 

Hope on the Horizon 

Researchers in far eastern Russia have been working to protect the Spoon-billed Sandpiper at its only known breeding site in that country. A decade-long attempt to breed the species in captivity in England failed. Instead, a new plan emerged (again, financed by others): collecting the first clutch of eggs, hatching them in incubators, and allowing the females to lay a second clutch. The incubator-hatched chicks are reintroduced to their parents in the wild, a process that has already resulted in 132 fledged birds contributing to the population. 

You can learn more about our work protecting the spoon-billed sandpipers on our project page.  The project is fully funded thanks to an anonymous donor (thank you!).