Debbie Dunham

---

A decade-save-long project, one of The World 's most endangered Bird Species has finally had success with the birth of two Chicks. But with an estimated one million Species At Risk around The World , and have nothing to save, as The Money and the resources, all of them, conservationists select a few of what You Can save?

"You have to carry one of these, I'm afraid," Tanya Grigg says understanding, gave me a distinctly disapproving blue hair net. "Any stray hair around The Birds head could wrap and injure You ; they are so delicate. "Tanja has a soft voice and gentle manner, I Can think of, to facilitate The Most shy of birds. It shows me in a large aviary.

There are only two, the nervous-looking birds Inside - both with a miniature, shovel-shaped bills and staksigen waders' legs. You get a little closer to each other, and peer at us, apparently suspicious of the invaders. Then Tanya gives a Small chair, sits down and pours Some food in their direction. You are instantly, completely engrossed in the food.

After nearly a decade of spoon-billed sandpipers bred in captivity for the First Time , only These are in the UK spoon-billed sandpipers, two precious specimens of possibly The Most endangered Bird Species on The Planet .

were her parents, hatched from eggs, which are gathered and Very carefully transported - from the nesting grounds of the Russian Far East . At this point, to save with only a few hundred birds in The World , the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) to the conclusion That You are running out of time, the types.

Spoonie in their natural Habitat - Still a Very rare sight, Almost a decade since this rescue mission, the two are The First to be born in the UK spoon-billed sandpiper ark. These two Little Birds were Worth It ? And how Can someone determine what is "Worth It ", when it's Extinction to prevent?

'Eight years and a lot of heart Pain this the Year of 2019 was the Year in which the crisis of Extinction which we live was marked with A Number . And it was a Very large number. And That is the fault of us humans.

Every story of a "rescued" Species represents, the years, often Decades , of the people, the loops in a hard fight against the Extinction . In the case of the spoon-billed sandpiper, which seems to battle to have, hopefully to have, been won.

Spoonies, as she is affectionately known, were one of the lucky ones, the chosen art. And I have the feeling That tagged along on your trip, since I reported The First about the history of their plight in 2011.

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for water birds. Your waddle panels developed toughness and grace. Their bills and legs are designed for screening, feeding and manage through any kind of mud. And many of them are incredibly epic traveler. The spoon-billed sandpiper " migration is 8,000 miles down The East Asian coast.

Spoonies, Small and speckled with spatula-Like bills That look more Like musical instruments That are as mouth - also pretty adorable.

Back in 2011, when The Mission to rescue The Birds were going, I had never heard of a spoon-billed sandpiper. With followed the progress of The Mission to rescue You , I was surprised at how long it took for The Birds , which were brought to breed to the UK. It turns out, it is much more complicated, long-winded, and downright emotionally draining as The Birds just lay their eggs. But as a Prof Debbie Pain explains, "to do Something That has never been done before, it Can take a long time".

Debbie is a conservation scientist who helped to instigate The Project Spoonie. Now an honorary research fellow at the University of Cambridge, reminds You That the was a "crisis maintenance". A team was sent to rescue the Russian wilderness, The Birds , before it was Too Late .

The Team has also worked to save The Chicks in The Wild in Russia 'So precious' birds - and need - in The Most urgent category of conservation. Together with More Than 4,000 others, including Some real icons of the crisis-the conservation of the Snow Leopard and The Black Rhino is classified as Critically Endangered.

At the beginning of the spoonie population was in free fall. Out of nearly 3,000 breeding pairs in the 1970s, they fell by about 1,000 in the Year 2000, then crashed to less than 250 in 2014. Human activity is driving the losses. Birds were Caught as accidental by - catch of hunters and critically You lose your muddy, coastal Habitat . The coastal flats where The Birds feed and fuel along an 8000-km-route of the wall and they were reclaimed and developed.

A mission to Chukotka, Russia, was organized Very quickly and gather a team to lay enough eggs to its breeding in captivity "ark". This meant looking bleak, Arctic, mosquito-infested wetlands for the increasingly rare nests.

Needle in the haystack Only a few hundred are looking for: remaining spoon-billed sandpipers nest on the tundra of Far East Russia, The WWT's Nigel Jarrett has with The Project since the beginning. He spent several weeks in Russia, in search of eggs, and are targeted to be transferred, over padded, insulated boxes, to incubators, to a special facility where they are hatched.

footage filmed during the journey, Nigel - an outdoorsy, plain-speaking Northern lights - camera whispering stopped, as he's a tiny little eggs in an incubator. "So precious," he muttered, either to himself, or perhaps by the tiny inhabitants of The Egg with the utmost Care .

Nigel and The Team , specifically the Arctic tundra looking for spoonie nests Once they were strong enough, the rescued Chicks were taken, More Than 4,000 kilometers, a Life science edition Will provide aviary at Wwt Slimbridge , Gloucestershire.

The WWT team spent five years tuning in to the biology of The Birds are evolutionarily adapted to an extreme, isolated niche. She developed a special insect protein-rich food, and gave them enough room, and even found the right lighting to mimic their natural environment. The prisoners spoonies required to be satisfied enough, Small spoon-billed sandpipers on their own.

It was Nigel , and the rest of The Team is absolutely delight, when in the Year 2016, two eggs finally hatched, producing tiny bumblebee-sized fluff-ball chick with a blunt spoon for invoices. But The Baby birds could not thrive; they survived only a few days. "It was absolutely heartbreaking," says Nigel .

'Pathetic, isn't it?' The 8,000-km Hiking trail from the spoonies includes Some of The Most threatened wetlands on The Planet ," If someone had asked me what were our chances of success at the start, I would have said not More Than 50%," says Debbie . "But there is no shame in failure - there is no try, only shame. "The [team in Slimbridge] have tried harder than all the people I know. Every Year they have come closer and closer to getting it right. "

Two years later, in 2018, Another single chick hatched. In the shift operation, worked with The Team in Slimbridge controlled, fed, and cared for her only, precious beings. It was a few months old when, apparently frightened by a noise one night, it flew into the side of his aviary, was injured and later died.

The two spoonies Now they thrive in Slimbridge, which hatched this Year are the result of years of hundreds of Hours of fine-tuning and dedicated Care .

"Eight years, and only two birds. Pathetic, isn't it?" Nigel Jokes. "But bringing The Birds in captivity means only the Extinction was never an option for these Very special birds - That was the goal. "And this, he adds, was always much More Than The Rescue of a Species . Part of the reason the Species was selected was for this special attention, because the spoon-billed sandpiper "stands for" thousands of miles of irreplaceable, threatened the coast.

chick, A tiny rescued, hatched in Russia, is weighed and tested by the WWT team of The "Flyway ", the spoonies migrate along - from Arctic breeding einständen in southern areas in Winter , East Asia includes Some of The Most threatened wetlands on the earth. "It is hunting, loss of Habitat - wide declines," explains Debbie . "So this is Now a flagship for the protection, the route of flight. "

Charisma and sympathy are the characteristics to take into account the conservationists have, if You decide where You focus your attention and resources.

black rhino is just one of More Than 4,000 Species in the highest category of conservation concern of The WWT has spent in The Order of hundreds of thousands of pounds on the spoonie rescue mission. And The Charity has been able to direct Some of this money in the wider wetland restoration, education and in the new science. Satellite-tagging studies of birds identified That The Most important places along the thousands of kilometres of coastline. "This could also benefit many other plants, animals and humans, the areas are dependent on the wetland," says Nigel .

type, such as Chester Zoo 's Mark Pilgrim puts it, "their champions".

wildlife, nature, biodiversity, conservation, extinction, climate change

Source of news: bbc.com