Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Multimedia Resources

Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Hatch

This piece captures the first moments of life at a windswept Spoon-billed Sandpiper nest. When the young finally hatch and emerge from the nest, after 21 days of incubation, they stumble about on well-developed legs and feet and begin to feed themselves. Females lay 4 eggs in a simple tundra nest in a shallow depression, most often in mosses, lined with a few dwarf willow leaves. Both adults incubate the nest, taking half-day shifts. The male most often incubates during the day and the female at night. After the last chick hatches, the male begins his job of leading the chicks as they grow and become independent about 20 days later. The female departs soon after hatching and begins moving south.

Video includes commentary by the Cornell Lab’s Gerrit Vyn.
Filmed July 7, 2011, near Meinypilgyno, Chukotka, Russia.