Way of the dodo?

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper is a small wader which has a sprawling natural habitat - breeding in Siberia and wintering in south-east Asia. But the world might soon be without the Eurynorhynchus pygmeus if a mission undertaken by a several of conservation groups fails.

The bird's numbers have declined by more than 90 percent over the last decade and experts believe there are less than 100 breeding pairs left in the wild. It is classified as critically endangered and could become extinct in ten to twenty years.

But in an effort to breed a small population of Spoon-billed Sandpipers to prevent the bird's extinction, a team of UK-based conservationists undertook a dramatic expedition to Russia's inhospitable Chukotka region - where the birds nest - to collect around a dozen eggs.

The six-month journey involved placing the chicks after they had hatched in quarantine for several months in Moscow, according to Debbie Pain, a scientist with Britain's Wildfowl and Wetland Trust (WWT).

The hatchlings were then moved to another quarantine in the UK and then transferred to winter aviaries that had been built for them at WWT headquarters in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.

"Obviously they can't be looked after year round where they breed in Arctic Russia because it's just solid ice and really cold sub-zero temperatures," Pain told Deutsche Welle.

"What we hope that this population will do is provide a safety net, so should the bird go extinct in the wild or become too low to be sustainable, we'll be able to provide birds for reintroduction to sustain that population," she added.

Habitat vanishing

The population of Spoon-billed Sandpipers, which winters around the Bay of Martaban off the coast of Myanmar, has fallen victim to large-scale trapping by poor local communities, which hunt the birds for food.

The birds lost an important staging point of their epic 8,000-kilometer annual migration when the intertidal mud flats at Saemangeum, South Korea, were drained.

Now conservationists say it will take around six years to breed enough young birds and then return them to their natural habitat.

The birds have an innate knowledge of their migration patterns, according to the WWT's Debbie Pain.

"So we really think it's feasible to take them back, as eggs or incredibly young chicks and release them in arctic Russia. They'll know exactly where to migrate to and they'll come back to where you've released them from," she added.

Hunting Hen Harriers

While the Spoon-billed Sandpiper might get a second chance, another bird native to the United Kingdom is looking at a second possibility of extinction.

The Hen Harrier, a bird of prey, was re-introduced to Britain in the 1960's following its disappearance from the country. Now, although it is thriving in Scotland and Northern Ireland, conservationists say they have only seen four pairs on one estate in England this year.

They blame an intensive form of red grouse shooting in the uplands, known as driven shooting, according to Jeff Knott from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

"Hen Harriers sometimes prey on Red Grouse and as a result, all too often the managers of some of these very intensive grouse walks are illegally killing birds of prey, particularly the Hen Harrier," he said.

Short-sighted landowners

The RSPB says there is enough suitable land in England for more than 300 pairs of Hen Harriers, adding that owners of shooting land in England who consider the birds pests or even dangers to their livelihoods are being short-sighted.

Other birds of prey have become popular among bird watchers, who in turn bring in vital tourism cash to rural areas. The White-tailed Eagle, for example, helps the Isle of Mull economy in Scotland to the tune of nearly 7 million euros ($ 9.2 million) a year.

Campaigners say Scottish government ministers play a more active role in programs to tackle wildlife crime and want their English counterparts to do the same.

Knott of the RSPB wants to see legislation passed which is similar to laws in pubs whereby pub landlords are held responsible if a barkeeper sells drinks to minors.

"We would like that to be applied to shooting estates - just as it is in Scotland - where if a gamekeeper kills a bird of prey, it would be the landowner that would be held responsible," he said.

This year's Red Grouse shooting season is over, but the RSPB says the government needs to act fast to prevent England's Hen Harriers from becoming a permanent thing of the past.

Author: Nik Martin (jam)
Editor: Sarah Steffen