On October 8, 2021, Chinese experts found a bird with a mouth shaped like a black "small rice spoon" near the Huang (Bo) Sea Wetland in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. It walks around the shoals, sweeping back and forth in the mud with its own "small rice spoon" from time to time, looking for food. This cute bird is the critically endangered rare species of spoon-billed sandpiper (yù), and there are only more than 600 birds in the world, which is extremely rare, more precious than giant pandas!
However, the discovery of spoon-billed sandpipers in Yancheng this time is not a coincidence, and it is also expected by scientific researchers. Because the Huang (Bo) Sea wetland area in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, is in the "East Asia-Australia" one of the world's 9 most important migratory bird migration routes. Starting in mid-October each year, an estimated 3 million migratory birds depart Russia and make their way to Yancheng. Of the 3 million migratory birds, the spoon-billed sandpiper is one of the birds that has attracted the most attention to researchers. And almost every time the spoon-billed sandpiper appears, almost every time the CCTV channel will report it.
The reason why the spoon-billed sandpiper can attract such high attention is mainly because of its scarcity, it is estimated that there are only more than 600 spoon-billed sandpipers worldwide, they have long been listed as world-class protected animals, and are currently designated as "critically endangered".
As the "new Internet celebrity" of Yancheng in recent years, the spoon-billed sandpiper is often jokingly called "Salt Spoon" by netizens, and together with elk and red-crowned cranes, it is jointly known as the "auspicious three treasures" of Yancheng.
Every year, after hearing of the appearance of the spoon-billed sandpiper, many people also flock to this place, set up a camera, and want to find the "most beautiful boy" from these countless birds.
The spoon-billed sandpiper is not very large, only about 15 cm long, which is very similar to another migratory bird, the red-bellied sandpiper, but the shape of the mouth and the way of foraging are completely different. The spoon-billed sandpiper can be called the "bird with its own rice spoon", precisely because of its most characteristic flattened mouth, like a small black spoon. This also makes their foraging methods very different from other birds. They use their small mouths to sweep around in the water or dirt, which makes them easy to distinguish them from other birds in the wild.
However, even if the spoon-billed sandpiper is obviously different from other birds, its rare number also makes it very difficult to find, which can be described as "one of all birds".
So, what does the appearance of the spoon-billed sandpiper mean?
Speaking of this, I have to mention that in recent years, China has actually appeared many times, not only in Yancheng, Jiangsu, but also in some reports, it has also appeared in Yuhuan, Zhejiang, Danzhou Bay, Hainan, Zhanjiang, Guangdong and other places. You know, the spoon-billed sandpiper has very high requirements for the natural environment of the habitat, so those areas where spoon-billed sandpipers can appear, in a sense, the environment is getting better and better.
The reason why the spoon-billed sandpiper population will be so rare is due to many factors, such as the destruction of breeding and wintering habitats, human hunting, etc., coupled with the fact that the output of its young birds has been low, resulting in the possible aging of spoon-billed sandpipers.
So, in 2011, the UK also launched an emergency protection plan for spoon-billed sandpipers. In order to radically increase the number of spoon-billed sandpipers, starting in 2012, experts decided to take bird eggs directly to the UK for incubation, and when they are adult and fertile, they will be brought back to their natural habitat. Moreover, the advantage of this is that when the eggs in the nest are removed, the spoon-billed sandpiper parents will also lay a new nest of bird eggs, which indirectly increases their numbers and thus expands their populations.
Today, according to relevant expert statistics, as of 2020, the current breeding ability of spoon-billed sandpipers is about 210 to 228 pairs, which is less than the 1864 giant pandas (as of January 2021), so spoon-billed sandpipers are also one of the rarest birds in the world.
In order to do a good job in the research and protection of spoon-billed sandpipers, the Russian side also wears numbered foot rings for many spoon-billed sandpipers to make detailed statistics on each spoon-billed sandpiper, even counting who their spouses are.
I hope that with the joint efforts of human beings, the number of wild populations of spoon-billed sandpipers in the future can be qualitatively improved, so that each of us has the opportunity to see this "cute" bird. For each of us, protecting biodiversity is also our shared responsibility.
I hope that the small spoon-billed sandpipers who come to Yancheng this time can eat enough, prepare for the next trip as soon as possible, and save enough energy.
Wishing the sandpipers a safe journey!