Wintering Spoon-billed Sandpipers found in Myanmar
Wintering Spoon-billed Sandpipers found in Myanmar
News from BirdLife International
14-2-2008
Sightings of 84 Spoon-billed Sandpipers Eurynorhynchus pygmeus [1] 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.
“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 [2]”, says Evgeny Syroechkovskiy, Vice President of the Russian Bird Conservation Union (BirdLife in Russia).
The Spoon-billed Sandpiper Recovery Team which found the birds included staff from Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA), BirdLife International’s Partners in Russia and Thailand [3], and members of ArcCona Consulting (Cambridge, UK and Kiel, Germany) and the Japan Wetlands Action Network (JAWAN).
ArcCona’s 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 Z
