Slimbridge WWT Spoon-billed sandpiper rescue

kiang

kiang

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
The WWT along with Birds Russia, Moscow Zoo and the RSPB working with colleagues from the BTO, BirdLife International, ArcCona and the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force have initiated a rescue programme for the severly endangered spoon-billed sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus).

The plan is to collect eggs, hatch and rear them on site in Russia, then transport the young birds to Moscow zoo and quarantine the birds before shipping them to a purpose built breeding centre at Slimbridge.

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. If this trend continues, the spoon-billed sandpiper could be extinct within a decade.

Recent research suggests that the breeding population of spoon-billed sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) 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. If this trend continues, the spoon-billed sandpiper could be extinct within a decade.

Recent research suggests that the breeding population of spoon-billed sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) 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. If this trend continues, the spoon-billed sandpiper could be extinct within a decade.

Emergency mission to save remarkable bird from extinction - Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT)
 
I hope they do well in captivity and if anyone can succeed WWT can.

Unfortunately it sometimes can be too late (a certain cetacean springs to mind)!
 
Luckily birds have a better record in this. Plus the WWT has the expertise to pull this off.
 
willtheman45 said:
As shon by them virtually saving the ne-ne/Hawaiian goose from extinction
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That very nearily went wrong before it started as all the original birds were females!!I hvae to wonder if Peter Scott is one of the few people to have eaten an omlette made from Ne-ne eggs!
 
good news on the captive spoon-billed sandpiper front:
First Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks hatch in captivity - WorldWaders News Blog
The first critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper to hatch in captivity in the world was always going to be a spectacular sight, but when a Heritage Expeditions boat docked in Anadyr last night not one, not two, but an incredible 17 tiny, hatched Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks emerged.

The incredibly ambitious mission to collect eggs from the rapidly dwindling number of nests on the breeding grounds in Chukotka and transport them thousands of miles via land, sea and air to the conservation breeding facility at WWT Slimbridge hatching has reached an important milestone.

Incredibly eight of the chicks actually hatched just as the team were preparing to leave Chukotka.

Describing his elation on docking safely in Anadyr, WWT’s Head of Conservation Breeding, Nigel Jarrett said: “We boarded the boat with the eight newly hatched chicks, 12 fertile eggs, considerable anxiety about the trip on rough seas and a great deal of hope.

"We got off the other end with only three eggs, but an amazing 17 chicks and the remaining eggs poised to hatch any day, so I am as happy as happy can be.”

Things have gone as well as could possibly have been hoped for so far, but saving this species is still going to be an uphill battle.

A couple of the hatchlings aren’t quite as strong as the others and we will have to accept that we will lose some.

The survival rate for Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks in the wild is extremely low. On average just four chicks fledge out of around 20 eggs laid and only one of these would survive to recruit into the adult population two years later.

The conservation breeding expedition, led by staff from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) and Birds Russia, has support from the RSPB, BTO, BirdLife International, ArcCona, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force and Moscow Zoo.

The project is funded by WWT and RSPB, with additional financial contributions and support from BirdLife International, the East-Asian Australasian Flyway Partnership, the Convention on Migratory Species, Heritage Expeditions and the Australasian Wader Study Group of Birds Australia.
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photos on the link (and the whole article because I cut some out)
 
Really good to see this project off to a strong start.
 
Jeremy Vine did a piece on the project on his show, yesterday on BBC radio 2.
 
First chicks hatched this week.

First spoon-billed sandpiper chicks hatch in UK | Environment | guardian.co.uk


Fourteen spoon-billed sandpipers have hatched in captivity in the UK this week, giving hope for the survival of the critically endangered species.

The chicks were hatched at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust's (WWT) centre in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, where four more eggs are ready to hatch in the coming days. The new flock will be added to the 12 spoon-billed sandpipers already captive at Slimbridge, which would bring their total population up to 30 birds.

The eggs were rushed from breeding grounds in the Chukotka region in north-east Russia and began the week-long journey to the UK in June. Slimbridge's current flock of spoon-billed sandpipers were hatched in Chukotka and then flown over when fully grown, making thse hatchlings the first to be born in the UK.

Nigel Jarrett, head of conversation at WWT, said: "With this second flock, we're a step closer to having a viable conservation breeding population, which really is our safety net should the worst happen and the spoon-billed sandpiper goes extinct in the wild."

While standard conservation practice holds that eggs should be left in the wild for as long as possible, threats to the spoon-billed sandpiper eggs from ground-based predators such as squirrels forced the conservationists to bring the eggs into captivity and incubate artificially.

The species is one of the world's rarest birds, with the population reducing by one-quarter annually. There are currently thought to be only 100 breeding pairs left worldwide. Destruction of the intertidal habitat along the birds' 8,000km migration path across Asia – particularly agricultural development and construction on coastal wetlands reclaimed from the Yellow Sea – is threatening the birds' survival.

A greater threat is bird-trapping by villagers in Bangladesh and Burma, where the birds winter, that is also thought to have drastically reduced the population. Conservationists funded by the Save Our Species initiative and the BBC Wildlife Fund are working with the trappers to find alternative means of income in the hope of alleviating the problem.

The dangerously low numbers of the birds mean it could face extinction in as soon as five years' time. Concern for the rapidly declining numbers triggered the establishment of a conservation programme, run by a number of international bodies including the WWT, RSPB, Birds Russia and BirdLife International, last year.

Slimbridge hopes that the new additions to the flock will help encourage breeding behaviour in the birds, which can reproduce at two years old.
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