Conservationists have set off on a last-ditch rescue bid to save one of the world's rarest and shyest birds – the tiny spoon-billed sandpiper – from extinction.
In the remote far east of Russia, near the Chukotka region, the team hopes to catch sight of some of the few pairs remaining. Between 120 and 200 pairs were believed to be still alive when last surveyed in 2009, but that figure could be as low as 60 pairs today – if not lower, as the bird is very difficult to spot.
Spoon-billed sandpipers are wading birds, living on the Russian Arctic coast during the summer and flying down as far as Bangladesh and Vietnam to winter. First described by botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1758, the bird's most distinctive feature is its spoon-shaped bill. Adult birds have red-brown heads, neck and breasts with dark brown streaks. Fully grown, they reach about 14 to 16cm in length.
The spoon-billed sandpiper population is thought to be declining by about a quarter every year, and the bird could be extinct within the decade if nothing is done to save it.
A combination of loss of habitat and the long 8,000km flights the birds make to their wintering ground are blamed for their rapid decline. The bird's migration path runs from Russia to Burma and the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh, and they have been spotted in Japan, North Korea, China, Thailand and Vietnam.
Trapping is the biggest problem, particularly in Burma and Bangladesh. Although the bird is too small to be of much interest as food, trappers setting nets for much larger birds often capture the spoon-billed sandpipers inadvertently.
If the conservation team manages to find any breeding birds, the hope is to start a captive breeding system to boost the numbers and eventually release back into the wild. The team is led by staff from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) and Birds Russia, working with the RSPB, Moscow zoo and other organisations.
If eggs are found, they will be collected and placed in a specially constructed incubation facility on the tundra where they will hatch the chicks. The fledglings will be transported to Moscow zoo then to Gloucestershire where staff will rear the birds.
Geoff Hilton, head of species research at WWT, said: "This is a remarkable species – a small Arctic wader, with a bill shaped like a spoon. This adaptation, entirely unique to its family, makes it one of the most weird and wonderful bird species on the planet."
No one has attempted to breed the birds in captivity before, but Hilton said this programme represented the last chance to save the bird, owing to its catastrophic decline in the wild.
As well as breeding the birds, the conservation charities are working with local communities in critical areas along the birds' migration path, to try to increase the bird's chances of survival. Hunters will be compensated for birds they release alive, and for the loss of hunting if they give up some of their nets.
WWT is launching a public fundraising appeal to raise the £350,000 needed to save the spoon-billed sandpiper.