Spoon Billed sandpipers found in Burma

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Important Find as Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpipers found in

Myanmar

 

Spoonbilled Sandpipers

 

- Spoon-billed Sandpipers breed during June–July in a small strip of

coastal Arctic tundra in Chuchotka, NE Russia. They migrate thousands of

kilometres to winter along coasts in South and South-East Asia.

- Spoon-billed Sandpiper will be uplisted to Critically Endangered by

BirdLife International on the 2008 IUCN Red List.

 

February 2008. A sighting of 84 Spoon-billed Sandpipers at two coastal

wetland sites in Myanmar have cast new light on the winter distribution of

this endangered species, and confirmed that these wetlands are of

international importance for their biodiversity.

The known global population of Spoon-billed Sandpiper has plunged alarmingly

in the last few years to only 200-300 pairs.

 

 

*Population Dropping Fast*

'The number of breeding pairs in Chukotka, Siberia, fell by 50 percent

between 2006 and 2007, and no birds have been seen this year at their

traditional wintering sites in Bangladesh', says Evgeny Syroechkovskiy, Vice

President of the Russian Bird Conservation Union (BirdLife in Russia).

 

Analysis of satellite images, combined with the experience of previous

surveys in India, Bangladesh and Thailand, and with historical records of

the species in Myanmar, suggested that potentially suitable habitats existed

in the south-western state of Arakan (Rakhine) in the Bay of Bengal, and

Martaban (Mottama) Bay near the Thai border. 'The Arakan coast has never

been surveyed before, and Martaban Bay only marginally in 2003,' explained

Christoph Zöckler of ArcCona Consulting.

 

Thirty-five Spoon-billed Sandpipers were counted at one high-tide roost in

Arakan, including one juvenile ringed at the breeding ground in Chukotka

last summer. The team at Martaban found a total of 48 Spoon-billed

Sandpiper, scattered over the huge mudflats of the bay but included a flock

of 39 birds.

 

 

'Our surveys have covered only a small section of the promising Arakan

coast,' Christoph Zöckler added. 'Although small-scale reclamation of the

mudflats for prawn ponds has been observed, the coastal zones are largely

healthy ecosystems, which provide both crucial habitat for tens of thousands

of arctic waders, and livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of people.'

 

'This is an important piece of the jigsaw,' said Simba Chan, Senior

Conservation Manager at BirdLife's Asia Division. 'If present trends

continue, Spoon-billed Sandpiper faces extinction in the next few years. If

we are to save the species, we need to identify and conserve not only its

breeding sites, but its migration stopover sites and wintering grounds too.'

Simba Chan added: 'The coast of Myanmar is still relatively intact, but most

of the tidal area along the eastern Asia flyway is under very heavy

development pressure. This work provides further illustration of the global

importance of Myanmar for biodiversity conservation.'

 

*Other Birds*

The Arakan team also recorded Indian Skimmers, several pairs of Sarus Crane

and a huge number of wintering Bar-headed Geese. At Martaban, an estimated

50,000 waders are believed to include globally significant numbers of

Broad-billed sandpiper, Lesser Sand-plover and Pallas' Gull.