Thirteen Spoon-billed Sandpipers have arrived in the UK bound for Slimbridge WWT in Gloucestershire, from their breeding grounds in far-eastern Russia.This is the start of a conservation breeding programme intended to help prevent the extinction of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper one of the rarest birds in the world.

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper - Eurynorhynchus pygmeus - is a small wader which breeds in northeastern Russia and winters in Southeast Asia.

Description

The most distinctive feature of this species is its 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.

Feeding

Its feeding style consists of a side-to-side movement of the bill as the bird walks forward with its head down.