A Spoon-billed Sanderling, China. (1 Viewer)

[xuky.summer]

My friend recorded some Sanderlings last autumn at Shandong province, The bill of one of them resembled a spoon-billed sandpiper, and the other parts are similar to Sanderling . Is this a bill deformity? Or is it possible a hybrids? only one image.
Thank you!

 

[DMW]

An interesting bird! I can't see any sign of a hind toe, which would suggest this isn't a pure Spoonie, and the "spoon" is very small for this species and appears somewhat twisted. Also, I don't think the breeding ranges overlap, although with the population so low it's possible one might breed outside it's normal range.
My guess would be aberrant Sanderling.

 

[nartreb]

The bird at far left also has a slightly rounded bill-tip (compare bird at far right)

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Interesting bird, thanks for sharing! A Sanderling for me too (not much of help here). I have never seen a Sanderling (or another wader species) with a spoonbill like that. And I am not aware of any picture or report of such, I assume this would be published somewhere, regarding the endangered status of the Spoon-billed SP and the interested in this species?

Are there more pictures of this bird? Did the observer noticed the unusual bill shape in the field?
Because, when I looked at the picture, I noticed what appears to be a drop of water at the tip of the bill. Is it possible, that the unusual bill shape is a fierce coincidence of

• a bad angle of viewing,
• a single picture effect
• the shape of the water-drop adding to the unusual shape
• the water-drop functions as a magnifying glass making the underling bill-tip look rounder

Yes, that would be coincidence at its worst (Maybe Q from the Startrek-continuum is involved then?)

I am sure, a proven Spoon-billed x Sanderling hybrid would be worth a publication somewhere? A quick google search just revealed this:

(PDF) Unusual specimen of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus

PDF | On Jan 1, 2012, Y.A. Red'kin and others published Unusual specimen of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

www.researchgate.net

But this bird is far beyond my knowledge, the only important sentence is: thanks for sharing!

Edit: just read, that this is the only image. Sorry, misses that!

 

[nartreb]

I don't think a water droplet by itself is sufficient explanation, but there is always the possibility of some object held sideways in the bill. Xuky, were you able to observe this bird well enough to rule that out?

 

[Edwin Sapatsch]

Interesting! Even depixelised and enlarged the 'spoon' effect seems pretty real on both birds & although there IS a water droplet I do not believe it is responsible for any major distortion. ???

 

[DMW]

I think it's reasonable to explain the blob on the left hand bird's bill as a drop of water or mud. Less so with the bird on the right.
It's also worth mentioning that Sanderling is considerably larger than SBS, and this bird looks to be of similar size to the other birds in the flock.

 

[xuky.summer]

I don't think a water droplet by itself is sufficient explanation, but there is always the possibility of some object held sideways in the bill. Xuky, were you able to observe this bird well enough to rule that out?

The photographer didn't notice the bill shape. He thought they are Sanderlings. Only recently he noticed a different bill shape. He thought it was a spoon-billed sandpiper.
I reconfirmed today, this photo was taken in the fall of 2018

 

[CARERY]

I really mean no offense, but I have to ask how well do you know the observer? I wonder if it could be a very skillfully photoshoped fake? The breeding ranges of Sanderling and Spoon-billed Sandpiper don't overlap and even if such a hybridisation should happen I would expect a hybrid to be distinctly smaller than a pure Sanderling. Moreover the shape looks perfect for a Spooni. Just too small but somehow twisted in an odd angle? Seems really strange to me...

 

[Jonno52]

I don't see an obvious shadow cast by the "spoon". That may prove nothing, and it's difficult to judge angles of light, but like Carery, I think all this a little odd. But of course, no wish to cause offence.

 

[xuky.summer]

I really mean no offense, but I have to ask how well do you know the observer? I wonder if it could be a very skillfully photoshoped fake? The breeding ranges of Sanderling and Spoon-billed Sandpiper don't overlap and even if such a hybridisation should happen I would expect a hybrid to be distinctly smaller than a pure Sanderling. Moreover the shape looks perfect for a Spooni. Just too small but somehow twisted in an odd angle? Seems really strange to me...

I also suspected that the photos were faked by PS, but the friend who gave me the photos said that she was definitely not processed.

 

[MacNara]

somehow twisted in an odd angle? Seems really strange to me...

Yes, the 'spoon' appears to be twisted about ?30º to the left from our viewpoint, or to the right of the bird. If you make a line from the top centre of the grey nasal cover (if that's what it's called) through the lower tip of this cover (the two red dots in photo A), and then carry on down the length of the bill (the line in photo B), the endpoint is to the right (photo) of the tip of the spoon.

Very strange, and not natural at all to me, I'm afraid. No offense to Xuky, but it looks to me as if the bill was photoshopped on from a Spoon-billed that was not standing in the same position as the Sanderling. But, who knows???

 

[Jos Stratford]

Also think it looks photoshopped - there is a blue edging to the bill which is in contrast to the otherwise brown mud background

 

[Andy Adcock]

Also think it looks photoshopped - there is a blue edging to the bill which is in contrast to the otherwise brown mud background

On the OP, there is also a gap in the shadow of the bill on the birds breast?

 

[MacNara]

Attachments:

Photo C -

The bill shadows X> and Y> are exactly the same, despite the difference in bill shape.

Photo D -

A> the blue edging artefact mentioned by Joe Stratford in post #13
B> another odd artefact along the edge of the bill which could be part of the underlying bill showing at the edge of the ?inserted spoon-bill
C> the lack of a spoon-shaped shadow

As some have said above, if a Sanderling and a Spoon-billed Sandpiper could and did interbreed, the result would surely not be a pure Sanderling body and a pure Spoon-billed bill.

The only other possibilities I can come up with are:

1. A sudden rush in evolutionary development among the Sanderlings of northeast China (after all the real Spoon-billed presumably evolved from something which did not have a spoon-bill). And so rapid. And how lucky that someone with a camera was there.

2. Someone has captured a Sanderling and glued one of those little plastic spoons you get at ice-cream parlours to the bill, then let it go again and taken a photo. Or the Sanderling has swallowed one and can't get it out.

3. It's a Photoshop job.

Occam's Razor ("don't choose a complicated and unlikely explanation when there is a simple and likely one available") suggests that 3 is the correct answer.

I think that people took this seriously at the beginning of the thread because Xuky is a respected and well-known member of BF (which she absolutely is).

But in post #11 she herself says that she thought at first it was photoshopped, but that her friend assured her it wasn't. She doesn't specifically say that the friend who gave her the photos was the same one who took them, and if either of these was the one who asserted their authenticity, and it's unclear whether the claim of authenticity was made to her directly by the claimed photographer or simply reported to her.

So there may be a chain of trust which has been broken somewhere. I think someone may have duped Xuky, directly or indirectly.

For example, no-one has yet mentioned the point that in the original post Xuky said that the photo was taken 'last fall', i.e. 2020. but in post #8 she says she 'reconfirmed' that it was taken in autumn 2018, i.e. three autumns ago. So her source has clearly given her inaccurate (quite different) information over the date of the photos at least once.

And it seems weird that the photographer took so long to notice this bird, given that he kept the photo. And in the digital age is it really believable that there is only one image? When I photograph Sanderlings, I tend to end up with a huge number of images because they skitter around so much.

But if it's real, it's some kind of astonishing record which would deserve major attention.

I repeat that I am not accusing Xuky of anything - she is absolutely a trusted and respected member of this forum - and she said she herself thought it was photoshopped at first; and in addition she has posted it here because she clearly thinks something is odd. Good for her.

 

[tconzemi]

I think you are wrong as shadow of the bill is much longer (broken by water reflections) and bill tip would be in the shadow of the belly

 

[Butty]

I think that some of the the detailed suggestions given here are either overly fanciful or plain wrong. But I do agree that the image looks dodgy and may well be fake, though solely because of the apparent twist in the bill - supported by the facts that a hybrid is monstrously unlikely to a) exist or b) look like this.

 

[nartreb]

Tconzemi is right - the bill's shadow clearly continues well below the point that MacNara has marked X. So there's nothing missing from the shadow.

I haven't tried any serious forensics (might have time later), but I don't see any artifacts beyond common lens and JPEG effects. Xuky, I don't suppose you can get your hands on a RAW file?

MacNara of course has a point about shaky information and chain of custody - this is a common occurence, and we should continue to maintain healthy skepticism. But so far I don't see any actual evidence of tampering.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I think that some of the the detailed suggestions given here are either overly fanciful or plain wrong. But I do agree that the image looks dodgy and may well be fake, though solely because of the apparent twist in the bill - supported by the facts that a hybrid is monstrously unlikely a) to exist or b) look like this.

Has there ever been an example of a bill deformity which is spatulate?

There's usually a twist or one mandible is longer than the other, what are the odds of an almost perfect, miniature, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, facsimile?

I think the odds of this being genuine, are about the same as me, being named in the England squad for the Euros......is that the phone, oh, hello Gareth......

 

[MacNara]

Tconzemi is right - the bill's shadow clearly continues well below theYou point that MacNara has marked X. So there's nothing missing fro

You have both misinterpreted my post. All I meant was to indicate that the shadows on the two birds were absolutely identical, not that this was exactly the spot that the spatulate bill shadow should be seen - although I think it should be visible if it were real, contra Tom.