CR
Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea



Family: Scolopacidae (Sandpipers, Snipes, Phalaropes)

Authority: (Linnaeus, 1758)

Red List Category

Criteria: A2abcd; C1+2a(ii)

Click here for more information about the Red List categories and criteria

Justification of Red List category
This species is listed as Critically Endangered because it has an extremely small population, with a lower bound that is thought to now fall below 250 mature individuals in a single population, that is undergoing a rapid continuing decline in excess of 25% in one generation (with a current estimated 8% annual reduction), and has suffered an extremely rapid population reduction in the previous three generations. The current rate of decline is thought to represent a minor improvement on that over the past three generations but remains very rapid and it still qualifies at the level of Endangered based on the estimated/projected current and future three-generation rate of population reduction. A number of factors are driving the decline, including habitat loss in its breeding, passage and wintering grounds, compounded by disturbance, pollution, and the effects of climate change, however the impact of indiscriminate shorebird hunting appears to be the most immediate and severe threat. Juvenile recruitment has, until recently, been very low, leading to fears that the population is ageing rapidly. Extensive conservation work has likely driven the slowing rate of decline, but much more work is required to prevent the extinction of this species.



BirdLife Species Guardian: BANCA (Myanmar), BCST (Thailand)

Population size: 240-620,490 mature individuals

Population trend: decreasing

Extent of occurrence (breeding/resident): 355,000 km2

Country endemic: no

Attributes
Land-mass type - continent
Realm - Indomalayan
Realm - Palearctic
IUCN System - Marine

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/spoon-billed-sandpiper-calidris-pygmaea on 30/12/2024.
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 30/12/2024.