• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Charadrius mongolus and C. atrifrons were previously lumped as C. mongolus (Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International 2022); see under C. atrifrons. Subspecies name stegmanni is a replacement for litoralis, latter name being invalid, as preoccupied. Two subspecies recognised.

Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2023. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 8. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v8_Dec23.zip.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	A2bce+4bce	A2bce+3bce+4bce

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2023	Endangered	A2bce+4bce
2016	Not Recognised
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	3,200,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	12,700,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	18000-50000 mature individuals	poor	suspected	2023
Population trend	decreasing	medium	estimated	2012-2025
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	50-62%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	30-49%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	50-62%	-	-	-
Generation length	4.44 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	2	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: Hansen et al. (2022) estimated that in 2016 there were approximately 180,000-275,000 ‘Lesser Sand Plovers’ in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, although this total includes populations of C. atrifrons, which are (substantially) more numerous. Rogers et al. (2021) estimated that in Australia (where the majority of this species winters), numbers of mature individuals of mongolus and stegmanni were, respectively, 8,000-13,000 (best estimate 9,000) and 10,000-17,000 (best estimate 12,000), thus suggesting a total population of 18,000-30,000 (best estimate 21,000). Direct count data in Australia (from which the estimates above were largely derived) found at least c.20,000 birds with an extrapolated estimate of c.40,000 but not all of these birds will have been mature individuals, thus the total population in Australia used here follows Rogers et al. (2021). While this is considered a majority of the global population, it is unclear how many birds winter in eastern Indonesia and New Guinea (D. Rogers in litt. 2023), thus the upper bound of any global population estimate is also highly uncertain. Accepting that the Australian population does represent a majority, the global population is suspected to number 18,000-50,000 mature individuals, although this is highly uncertain.

Trend justification: All available data (almost entirely from the species’ wintering grounds in Australia) indicate a sharp reduction in the number of birds over the past three generations. Many of threats facing this species are imprecisely known (at least in terms of scale and relative contribution) and few have been mitigated or ameliorated. These threats are therefore projected to continue into the future. Using the data available to them (cited in parentheses), Rogers et al. (2021) estimated a rate of reduction of 56% over the past three generations, averaging trend data from: ?62% (Clemens et al. 2016), ?55% (Studds et al. 2017), ?56% (Clemens et al. 2019; Waterbird meta-analysis) and ?50% (Clemens et al. 2019; Generalised Additive Model to three generations). The generation length used by those authors is nearly identical to that used here (4.30 years vs. 4.44 years) hence these values are applicable here. Although these data are several years out of date, there has been no apparent recovery in population (R. Fuller in litt. 2023) and, precautionarily, these rates of decline are thought to be applicable for the three generations to 2023. A rapid recovery/rebound is considered unlikely, hence these rates are also applied to a moving window of 2012-2025. The rate of decline for the next three generations (2023-2036) is considered highly uncertain, but its suspected to be slightly slower due to the ceasing of land reclamation, and planned conservation action on Spartina cord grass. It is therefore set in the range of 30-49%.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Australia	extant	native			yes	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native				yes
Fiji	extant	native				yes
Guam (to USA)	extant	native				yes
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native				yes
Indonesia	extant	native				yes
Japan	extant	native				yes
Malaysia	extant	native				yes
Marshall Islands	extant	native				yes
Micronesia, Federated States of	extant	native				yes
Nauru	extant	native				yes
New Caledonia (to France)	extant	native				yes
New Zealand	extant	native			yes	yes
North Korea	extant	native				yes
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	native				yes
Palau	extant	native				yes
Papua New Guinea	extant	native				yes
Philippines	extant	native				yes
Russia	extant	native		yes		yes
Solomon Islands	extant	native				yes
South Korea	extant	native				yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native				yes
Timor-Leste	extant	native				yes
Vanuatu	extant	native				yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	passage
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Subarctic	major	breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Sand Dunes	suitable	breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Sand Dunes	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Mud Flats and Salt Flats	major	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Rocky Shoreline	major	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars, Spits, Etc	major	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Shingle and/or Pebble Shoreline and/or Beaches	major	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Tidepools	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Estuaries	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	major	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	passage
Wetlands (inland)	Tundra Wetlands (incl. pools and temporary waters from snowmelt)	major	breeding
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Marine & freshwater aquaculture - Industrial aquaculture	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species disturbance, Ecosystem degradation
Agriculture & aquaculture	Marine & freshwater aquaculture - Subsistence/artisinal aquaculture	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species disturbance, Ecosystem degradation
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Unintentional effects (species is not the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Climate change & severe weather	Other impacts	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Energy production & mining	Renewable energy	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance, Species mortality
Human intrusions & disturbance	Recreational activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance
Human intrusions & disturbance	Work & other activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Spartina alterniflora	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 7
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Type Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Domestic & urban waste water - Type Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Industrial & military effluents - Type Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Residential & commercial development	Commercial & industrial areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 7
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion
Residential & commercial development	Tourism & recreation areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Siberian Sandplover Charadrius mongolus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/siberian-sandplover-charadrius-mongolus on 26/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 26/12/2024.