Headstarting is a collaborative effort between WWT, BirdsRussia and the RSPB, and occurs as part of the International Arctic Expedition mounted each year by BirdsRussia under the leadership of Dr. Evgeny Syroechkovskiy.
Migration routes of JY and KY, 9 November 2019

JY and KY are on their way too … to where?

Update from Baz Hughes and Guy Anderson Follow our satellite tagged spoonies by clicking here for the live map. EH remains at Pak Thale – Laem Phak Bia. Within 12 hours of arriving it had been seen on the reserve by visiting British birder Shaun Ferguson. Nice spot Shaun! Yesterday (8
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News from the field: First update from the breeding grounds

Update from Nikolay Yakoshev We are anxious to share the early news from the field season. The first team of four scientists has safely arrived in Meinypil’gyno in far eastern Russia. The team, spearheaded by BirdsRussia, surveyed the local habitat and made the first sighting of two r
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Jiangsu survey and catching team, next to our ringing base camp, September 2018.

News from the field: China expedition September 2018, Part 2

Update from Guy Anderson The spoony survey and ringing team has now finished fieldwork in Jiangsu, China for this year. Through the fog of sleep deprivation and jet-lag emerges the realisation that we got loads achieved this year. As Kane Brides reported, we caught 15 spoonies, 13 of
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Spoonies in keeping box

News from the field: China expedition September 2018

Update from Kane Brides. On Wednesday 5th September a team from the UK arrived in Shanghai to join colleagues from New Zealand, Hong Kong and China to continue the latest survey efforts of Spoon-billed Sandpipers in Jiangsu Province. Three aims of the expedition are keeping the team b
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'Spoon-billed Bagpiper'. Photo by Jodie Clements.

News from the Field: A Full Incubator

Spirits are high now the incubator is full and the River mouth is finally open! This year a grand total of 35 eggs have been collected by Nickolay and Ivan, 31 before the re-lay cut-off date (21st June) allowing females the chance to lay a second clutch and males to rear their own bro
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Lime 38 singing. Photo by Jodie Clements.

News from the Field: We’ve arrived! And so have the Spoonies..

We’ve finally reached Meinypil’gyno and already can’t wait to get stuck in to the 2018 season! Our journey from Heathrow to Meina has taken 5 days, with a short delay in Moscow and a 1 day extra wait for the helicopter at Anadyr. Being met by Russian staff at Moscow and Anadyr h
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Spoon-billed Sandpiper, XT, resplendent in summer plumage. Photo by Guy Anderson.

Spring tagging in Jiangsu, China: update from Dr. Guy Anderson

From Guy Anderson In October 2016, we fitted satellite transmitters to three Spoon-billed Sandpipers on their autumn moult and migration staging area in the south-west corner of the Yellow Sea; in Jiangsu province, China. The tags performed very well and tracked these birds south and
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The locations of CT (green), HU (blue) and ET (yellow) over the last month. (Map data ©2017 Google, SK telecom, ZENRIN Imagery ©TerraMetrics).

Where have the tracked spoonies spent the last few months?

The last time you heard from us about the birds that are being satellite tracked was on the 17 November last year. Why no news since? There simply hasn’t been much to report. But no news is good news. The birds have all spent the non-breeding season at the sites they were last r
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Why ET, HU or CT might lead us to missing spoonie sites

With the third spoon-billed sandpiper on the move, Prof. Rhys Green gives us his insights on why these three birds could lead us to as yet unknown sites, and how that could have important implications for conservation efforts. From Prof. Rhys Green The journeys of the three tagged spo
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CT on his way south, 13 November at 10.27 UTC. (Map data ©OpenStreetMap)

The third tagged spoonie CT is off!

A satellite fix has just come in showing that the third tagged spoon-billed sandpiper has made a move away from the Jiangsu coast! CT, presumed to be male, has been at the Tiaozini mudflats on the Jiangsu coast since he was tagged in early October. His female counterparts made their m
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