Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea) is a tiny sandpiper whose unique bill broadens into a flat spoon-shaped tip. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds on coastal tundra in northeastern Russia and migrates along East Asian tidal flats, feeding on minute invertebrates. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).