Saving Spoonbills

As of now, very few zoos and aquariums are working with sandpipers and other shorebirds.  Most of those that do have birds from this family are providing forever homes to injured, non-releasable specimens of local species.   Does it matter that not many zoos have experience or expertise caring for shorebirds?  It's not like sanderlings are going extinct any time soon.

True.  But other sandpipers may not be so lucky.

Consider the handsome, bizarre-looking spoon-billed sandpiper of northeast Asia - not to be confused with the much more familiar, more commonly-kept spoonbills, which are themselves related to ibises and pelicans.  These critically endangered shorebirds are in decline primarily due to habitat loss, as well as trapping on their migratory route.  Compared to many endangered bird species, they've been somewhat under the radar of many folks.  About a decade ago, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge in the UK joined with Russian partners to try and save these funny-looking little fowl.

Granted, it took about a decade for Slimbridge to produce the first chicks from these birds.  If there was more established knowledge on the breeding and rearing of sandpipers - not just keeping a few one-eyed, one-legged birds going for a few years in a rescue aviary - success might have been quicker and more complete.