Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper Returns to Gochang Tidal Flats for Fourth Straight Year

A spoon-billed sandpiper, one of the world’s most endangered shorebirds, has returned to South Korea’s Gochang tidal flats for the fourth consecutive year.

Gochang County said the bird is listed as Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List and as a Class 1 endangered wildlife species in South Korea. Only about 500 are believed to remain worldwide.

The small sandpiper has a distinctive bill shaped like a spoon. It breeds in Russia’s Far East and on the Kamchatka Peninsula before migrating to Southeast Asia for the winter. During its long journey, it stops at tidal flats along South Korea’s west coast in spring and autumn to feed and rest.

Gochang’s tidal flats are considered an important stopover because they offer abundant food and a safe habitat. Since the species was first observed there in 2023, one or two birds have been identified each year. County officials said the four-year run of sightings shows the site’s importance to endangered migratory birds.

Na Yoon-ok, head of Gochang County’s World Heritage Division, said the county would preserve the tidal-flat habitat without damaging its healthy natural environment and develop it as a world natural heritage site where people and nature can coexist. The county is also running an “Bird of the Month at Gochang Tidal Flats” campaign, along with birdwatching and ecological tourism programs such as the Big Bird Race and Birdwatchers’ Day.

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We will preserve the healthy natural environment of the Gochang tidal-flat habitat without damaging it and develop it into an outstanding world natural heritage site where people and nature can fully coexist.