What could be more important than seeing birds?
Saving
birds…
I
am proud to call myself a “Bangla Birder”. My Mum and her parents are from Sylhet District , Bangladesh India and Myanmar
(Burma Bangladesh quite
a few times and have birded at Lawachara
Forest Jahangirnagar University
In
February 2011, Mum and I also met Sayam U Chowdhury in Dhaka .
He was running the “Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Conservation Project” and Dad had brought over a couple of telescopes and tripods from Birdlife International that had been donated by Viking for the project. We met at a fancy café in Gulshan, an up-market
part of town. Sayam was bringing another birder, Shimanto Dipu, with him. We were late arriving (is my mum ever not?)
but I knew instantly who they were, because they just looked distinctly “birder-ish”.
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| Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Lalakal, Sylhet, Bangladesh, February 2011 Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
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| Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Lalakal, Sylhet, Bangladesh, February 2011 Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
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| Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Lalakal, Sylhet, Bangladesh, February 2011 Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
Dipu
told us that he was off to Tangua Haor for 6 months, a huge wetland in Sunamgonj, on the
northern border with India,
The
website says that all the Spoon-billed Sandpiper together weigh less
than a mute swan.
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| Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Bangladesh Photograph taken by and copyright Baz Scampion |
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| Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Bangladesh Photograph taken by and copyright Baz Scampion |
In 2010, “Punk Birders” had helped Sayam carry out a survey in Southern Bangladesh, when they found 45 Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Their report from the trip is at:
I knew all about the survey and their finding so many Spoon-billed Sandpiper,
but sitting in the café on that day was the first time that I had heard about
the actual project. It sounded ambitious, but just what was needed to hopefully
save the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Dad had arranged to do survey work near Cox’s
Bazaar with Sayam in March 2011 and was meeting him later in the week at Bangladesh Bird Club. Mum and I were really
disappointed not to be going, but I had to be back in school. It was very
exciting to hear about the plans. During Dad’s two day trip, they recorded 22 Spoon-billed
Sandpiper and 1 Nordmann’s Greenshank.
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| Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Bangladesh Photograph courtesy of Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Conservation Project Facebook Page |
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| Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, March 2011 Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig |
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| Sayam U Chowdhury at Sonadia Island, Bangladesh, March 2011 Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig |
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| Chris Craig and Sayam U Chowdhury with villagers on Sonadia Island, Bangladesh, March 2011 Copyright Chris Craig |
Bangladesh now has lots of younger birders, which is encouraging. A few of them are Sayam, Dipu, Israt, Samiul Mohsanin, Mohammed Foysal, Rajib Rashedul Kabir, Mushfiq Ahmed, Monirul Khan, Tania Khan, Onu Tareq and Monwar Hussain Tuhin. It is really important for the future of birds in Bangladesh that people are interested in them and their environment.
There have been two expeditions to Russia to start a breeding programme. They surveyed the breeding area looking for nests, collected the eggs, then brought most of them back to WWT Slimbridge Head Quarters, UK to hatch. The population at Slimbridge is mainly there just in case the species becomes extinct in the wild. It has also eased the immediate worries about their survival, leaving time to sort the things that are so bad for the Spoon-billed Sandpiper population. Now a small flock of Spoon-billed Sandpiper are living in a specially built aviary in WWT's Slimbridge head Quarters. This summer, they plan to breed the captive birds, take the eggs back to Russia and release the young chicks.
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| Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Summer plumage, Russia Photograph courtesy of Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Conservation Project Facebook Page
Illegal hunting in Spoon-billed Sandpiper’s wintering grounds were killing young birds before they bred. Now they have talked to the people in the villages who were just trying to catch the bigger birds to eat but were catching Spoon-billed Sandpiper by accident. The project therefore gave the villagers money so that they could buy boats and nets as long as they agreed to stop hunting birds. But then sometimes people came from other villages to hunt, so the people in the main village had to enforce their hunting ban. This part of the project was called “Hunting Mitigation” and included educating the villagers and children.
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| Meeting with local villagers to educate on hunting mitigation Photograph courtesy of Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Conservation Project Facebook Page |
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| Working with local children to educate them about Spoon-billed Sandpiper Photograph courtesy of Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Conservation Project Facebook page |
In October 2012, Sayam came over to
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| Spoon-billed Sandpiper chick at WWT Slimbridge Photograph courtesy of WWT Slimbridge |
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| Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks at WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, UK (without a flash) Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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| Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks at WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, UK (without a flash) Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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| Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks at WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, UK (without a flash) Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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| Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks at WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, UK (without a flash) Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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| Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks at WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, UK (without a flash) Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
We
had a great day at Slimbridge meeting Nigel Jarrett, Roland Digby, Martin
McGill and Baz Scampion.
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| Martin McGill in Russia Photograph courtesy of WWT |
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| Roland Digby in Russia Photograph courtesy of WWT |
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| Nigel Jarrett, Helena Craig, Sayam U Chowdhury with Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, UK, October 2012 Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig |
In
the next 5-10 years, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper could still be extinct if we
don’t help.
I
have interviewed two people to explain their input in the “Saving the Spoon-billed
Sandpiper” project, Nigel Jarrett and Sayam U Chowdhury.
Interview with Nigel Jarrett, World
Wildfowl Trust’s Head of Conservation Breeding
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| Nigel Jarett in Russia Photograph courtesy of WWT |
Why did WWT choose Spoon-billed Sandpiper to save, above other endangered species?
Well, as you know there are many critically endangered
water birds and all need urgent conservation measures to ensure their survival.
In 2010, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper was heading towards extinction rapidly...
the population was declining at a rate of 27% each year. At the time, it seemed
that low survival of young birds through hunting, as well as habitat loss on
its wintering sites (in Mynamar and Bangladesh
We knew there was a good chance we could reduce hunting
pressure by helping hunters find alternative food sources and that wintering
and staging sites could be protected. We just needed time (a few years) to
implement measures. However, time was short and we needed to buy time for
Spoon-billed Sandpiper to ensure survival. To ensure that extinction was not an
option during the period of time needed to protect the species and its habitat,
we established a Conservation Breeding Programme.
At the beginning of 2014, the captive population comprised
25 birds living in specially-designed biosecure aviaries in Slimbridge. We hope
and beginning this year that through a carefully managed breeding programme,
the size of the flock will be built up to the point where some eggs can be
transported to the Russian Far East, to be hatched, reared and released on the
breeding grounds.
We were so successful at hatching eggs and rearing chicks
on the tundra in 2011 that in 2012 we started a 'head-starting' initiative
in-situ, in Russia
Head-starting was also considered worthwhile because
hunting mitigation in Myanmar
and Bangladesh Asia . One bird was seen on
consecutive days on a salt pan near Bangkok in Thailand , and another bird was seen on a fish
pond in Fucheng, southern China
What has been your
involvement in the Spoon-billed Sandpiper project as WWT’s Head of Conservation
Breeding?
My involvement has been to devise, implement and improve
all the methods to establish the conservation breeding population at Slimbridge
and the Head-starting work in Russia Russia Russia
Interview with Sayam U Chowdhury, who runs the Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Conservation Project
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| Sayam U Chowdhury in Russia Photograph courtesy of WWT |
How did you get involved with the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Project?
I did my undergraduate thesis on the status and distribution of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Bangladesh in 2009 with a very small grant from the Explorers Club.
I did my undergraduate thesis on the status and distribution of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Bangladesh in 2009 with a very small grant from the Explorers Club.
What is happening to help Spoon-Billed Sandpiper?
Our attempt to save the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper can be divided into two major parts - 1) Conservation breeding and head-starting in the breeding grounds (www.saving-spoon-billed-sandpiper.com) and 2) Hunting mitigation, outreach and conservation of mudflats in the wintering and staging grounds, Bangladesh being an important part of that.
How are the problems in the Spoon-billed Sandpiper wintering grounds being solved?
In 2010, we discovered a big flock of Spoon-billed Sandpiper on Sonadia Island in Southern Bangladesh. We also uncovered a significant problem with hunting of Spoon-billed Sandpiper by local villagers, which lead to the completion of the Hunting Mitigation Project. This provided alternative livelihoods to the hunters so that they could stop their hunting of waders. We are now conducting regular surveys in key Spoon-billed Sandpiper sites along with large scale awareness campaign in Bangladesh.
How long do you think we will have to support Spoon-billed Sandpiper for?
It is difficult to estimate a timescale. However, we will keep on doing what we are currently doing until the population starts to increase to a satisfactory level. Actually, it’s not just about the Spoon-billed Sandpiper but about all shorebird (wader) species along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, which are now in danger.
Why is it so important to help the Spoon-Billed Sandpiper?
Spoon-billed Sandpiper can be seen as a flagship species of inter-tidal wetlands. If we can save it, then we will be helping all the other species using the same flyway. This will bring harmony to the coastal wetland and will benefit us.
Why is it so important to help the Spoon-Billed Sandpiper?
Spoon-billed Sandpiper can be seen as a flagship species of inter-tidal wetlands. If we can save it, then we will be helping all the other species using the same flyway. This will bring harmony to the coastal wetland and will benefit us.
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| Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Bangladesh Photograph courtesy of Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Conservation Project Facebook Page |
Mum, Dad and I are planning to go to Bangladesh in February 2015 to help Sayam with Spoon-billed Sandpiper survey work and also to visit the Sundarbans to try and see Masked Finfoot. If we have time, I would like to search for Baer’s Pochard at Tangua Haor.
There is a page on Facebook for the project, which conserves habitat, raises awareness and secures alternative incomes for former Spoon-billed Sandpiper hunters:
When I am old enough, if it’s still needed, I’d like to go and do head-starting work in Russia, but hopefully it will no longer be necessary by then and the Spoon-billed Sandpiper would have been already saved.
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