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.

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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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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HU near Xitou, China, 17 November 2016. Photo by Jonathan Martinez.

Satellite tagged bird spotted and photographed in China

Today, Jonathan Martinez managed to catch-up with one of the satellite tagged spoon-billed sandpipers, HU, near the port town of Xitou in Guangdong province, China. HU has been at this site since the end of October, arriving a few weeks after being tagged on the Jiangsu coast. Jonatha
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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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ET at the Gulf of Mottama, 5-7 November 2016. (Map data ©2016 Google, SK telecom Imagery ©2016 TerraMetrics)

ET settling in at the Gulf of Mottama?

ET arrived at the Gulf of Mottama in Myanmar at around 9pm on Saturday night (UTC, 2.30am on Sunday morning local time). 12 hours later, she appeared to be moving to the north west perhaps heading on to Bangladesh after a rest in the gulf. The two fixes since then, however, have been
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ET's journey continues from the the island of Hainan to western Thailand! As of 14:09 (UTC) on 5 Nov 2016. (Map data ©2016 Google, SK telecom Imagery ©2016 TerraMetrics)

Is ET heading for Myanmar? 1000km closer in the last 24 hours

Just a quick update to let you all know that ET, the satellite tagged spoon-billed sandpiper who yesterday, was just south of the island of Hainan, has flown across Vietnam, Laos and most of Thailand today! The last fix from her came in at 14:09 (UTC, 21:09 local time) showing her to
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ET on the move from the Jiangsu coast to the island of Hainan! As of 16:30 on 4 Nov 2016. Map data: ©2015 Google and Microwave Telemetry Inc.

The tagged spoonies are on the move!

From Guy Anderson Last week we announced that we had fitted the first three satellite tags to wild Spoon-billed Sandpipers, in Jiangsu Province, China in early October. The three birds – ET, HU and CT – are named after the code on the engraved plastic leg flag each bird wears. All thr
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One of the three Spoon-billed Sandpipers fitted with a satellite tag at Tiaozini, October 2016

The world’s smallest satellite tag helps one of the world’s rarest species!

From Nigel Clark, Guy Anderson and Baz Hughes Very exciting news from the international research efforts helping the Spoon-billed Sandpiper – one of the world’s most endangered birds. We now have three wild adult ‘spoonies’ fitted with satellite tags – brand new tiny tags that are the
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