China lies at the centre of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, and vast numbers of migratory birds pass through the country every year on the journeys between their breeding and non-breeding grounds. In the past seven years the China Coastal Waterbird Census has gathered a wealth of new information on the populations of the waterbirds that migrate along the coast of China, including many globally threatened species.

In late 2012, the team of volunteers that runs the China Coastal Waterbird Census was awarded the second prize in the Nature Conservation Pioneer Award category of the Ford Green Awards 2012. The extra resources provided by the award will be used to recruit new surveyors and cover additional sites, and to provide training to enhance the skills of the team.

The China Coastal Waterbird Census is a long-term project initiated by a group of keen birdwatchers in September 2005 with an aim of monitoring the distribution, numbers and seasonal movements of waterbirds through monthly surveys along the Chinese coast. It was also hoped that the results of the China Coastal Waterbird Census would assist with the conservation of the country?s biodiversity and Important Bird Areas.

Getting baseline data

The China Coastal Waterbird Census is coordinated by representatives from the different survey sites and to date more than 150 volunteers from Chinese birdwatching societies, nature reserves and other organisations have participated in the census work. At present, waterbirds are counted at thirteen coastal intertidal wetlands every month, in Liaoning, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangdong and Hong Kong.

The results of the monthly surveys are providing important baseline information on the biodiversity of the thirteen coastal sites and the distribution, populations and migratory movements of individual waterbird species in China. Since the start of the project, a total of 21 globally threatened species (four Critically Endangered, six Endangered and 11 Vulnerable) has been recorded, as well as 71 species that have been counted in internationally important numbers (exceeding 1% of their global or flyway population at one or more sites).

The China Coastal Waterbird Census has made some exciting discoveries, notably that Rudong in Jiangsu is a key stopover site for both Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Critically Endangered) and Spotted Greenshank (Endangered), that the Min Jiang Estuary in Fujian support a wintering population of Spoon-billed Sandpiper and that Lianyungang in Jiangsu is a key wintering site for Eurasian Oystercatcher.

Reporting back

Two reports have been published on the results of the China Coastal Waterbird Census ? in Chinese with an English summary ? covering 2005-2007 and 2008-2009 and the data have been cited in both national and international studies. A new report covering 2010-2011 will be published shortly. A leaflet about the China Coastal Waterbird Census was produced to promote wetland and waterbird conservation to the general public.

A meeting of the China Coastal Waterbird Census participants is held every year or two, to review the previous year?s counts and plan for the following year. Training courses have been held on survey techniques, the identification of difficult waterbird groups and site conservation, which has helped to build the capacity of the Chinese birdwatching societies. The Ford Green Award provides an important opportunity to expand the China Coastal Waterbird Census, and provide further training to increase the skills of the participants.

Since it was established in 2005, the China Coastal Waterbird Census has received support from The Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, BirdLife International, Darwin Initiative, Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, Hong Kong,Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust, Tolkien Trust and Asian Waterbird Conservation Fund.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper - Eurynorhynchus pygmeus - is a small wader which breeds in north eastern Russia and winters in South East Asia. They migrate to the wintering grounds at the end of August.  During winter it prefers mixed sandy tidal mudflats with uneven surface and very shallow water, mainly in the outermost parts of river deltas and outer islands.

Description

A small stint with a most distinctive spatulate bill. The breeding adult bird has a red-brown head, neck and breast with dark brown streaks. It has blackish upperparts with buff and pale rufous fringing. Non-breeding adults lack the reddish colouration, but have pale brownish-grey upperparts with whitish fringing to the wing-coverts. The underparts are white and the legs are black.

Call

The contact calls of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper include a quiet preep or a shrill wheer.

Food

The species feeds by plover-style pecking and probing, also appearing to use its bill as a shovel. It uses its unusual bill to probe for small invertebrates. It will also forage by pushing its bill into the muddy sand of coastal areas. Chicks eat mainly small insects and seeds.

Breeding

They nest between June and July on coastal areas in the tundra, always within six kilometres of the sea, choosing locations with grass close to freshwater pools. These birds will return year after year to breed at the same nest site. The first males to arrive at the breeding grounds occupy the largest territories. Pairs meet and mate, laying eggs that are incubated for 19 to 23 days and hatch between early July and early August. Both parents tend to their young.

Conservation Status Â? Critically Endangered

Recent research suggests that the breeding population of Spoon-billed Sandpiper was between 120-200 pairs in 2009, with the species believed to be declining at approximately 26% per year, due to extremely low survival of juvenile birds. The current estimate is as few as 100 pairs.

Threats - With very particular habitat requirements, high nest site fidelity and a small population, habitat loss has had a large impact on this species. As with many coastal regions, tidal mudflats are being reclaimed for industry or aquaculture. Pollution, climate change and human disturbance have also altered the habitat of this species, and hunting of shorebirds contributes to the decline of the spoon-billed sandpiper.

Birdwatching

Ask Aves Birding Tours/Safaris/Adventures to create a tour for you to see these Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpipers.