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The devoted dads of the tundra: family life of sandpiper

Mum and dad take turns keeping their eggs warm but the father of the world’s most threatened shorebird does the childcare when the chicks hatch.

The spoon-billed sandpiper is the most endangered shorebird in the world, as well as the most endearing and smallest. It is the size of a sparrow and yet it flies all the way from Southeast Asia to the Russian tundra to breed and rear its young. A potted story of its family life is told to Ann Jones by Christoph Zockler of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force, wildlife film-maker Gerrit Vyn and Evgeny Syroechkovskiy of Birds Russia.

Image: Adult spoon-billed sandpiper in Chukotka/© Pavel Tomkovich/Egor Loktionov

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Duration:

2 minutes