Spoon-Billed Sandpiper

(Eurynorhynchus pygmeus), a bird of the family Charadriidae. Body length, approximately 14 cm. The tip of the bill is shaped like a small, rhombic shovel. The head and back are blackish brown with reddish spots; the throat and jugulum are reddish. Spoon-billed sandpipers nest only in the USSR, in the coastal tundras of the Chukchi Peninsula, Gek Land, and Koriak Land. They winter in Southeast Asia. The nests are built in the grass. The clutch consists of four ocher-green eggs with dark spots; only the male sits on the eggs. The birds feed on small crustaceans and other invertebrates, as well as on insects.