Spoon-billed Sandpiper

The spoon-billed sandpiper is a tiny shorebird instantly distinguished by the flattened, spatula-shaped tip of its black bill. Breeding adults are rich reddish brown across the head, breast and back, with dark breast spotting and a white belly. In non-breeding plumage they become grey, black and white, with mostly grey upperparts, a lightly streaked crown and white forehead, throat and underparts. Black legs and its unique bill remain useful identification marks throughout the year (Cornell Lab of Ornithology).

It breeds on coastal tundra in far northeastern Russia and migrates through the Yellow Sea to wintering mudflats in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. Adults and larvae of insects, spiders, seeds and berries are taken on the breeding grounds; marine worms and shrimp dominate farther south. Four eggs are laid in a shallow tundra depression. Both adults incubate for 19–23 days, after which the male tends the self-feeding chicks until they fledge at about 20 days (Cornell Lab of Ornithology).