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URL:http://www.russianmix.com/events/viewevent/4303-lecture-on-spoon-billed-sandpiper-conservation-with-evgeny-syroechkovskiy/ 
DTSTART:20170918T183000
DTEND:20170918T200000
SUMMARY:Lecture on Spoon-billed Sandpiper conservation with Evgeny Syroechkovskiy
DESCRIPTION:The diminutive Spoon-billed Sandpiper is one of the world’s most imperiled migratory bird species, with only a few hundred breeding pairs remaining.  It has been the subject of intensive conservation efforts for the past two decades, both on its breeding grounds in the Russian Far East, and on its migratory and wintering grounds in East and Southeast Asia. 
Dr. Evgeny Syroechkovskiy, the Director of Birds Russia, is also the chair of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force, which is convened by the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership. Dr. Syroechkovskiy initiated the conservation work of Spoon-billed Sandpipers on their breeding grounds in Chukotka in 2000, and pioneered the “head-starting” assisted breeding program there. He has been instrumental in organizing multi-lateral cooperation for the conservation of shorebirds between Russia, China and Southeast Asian countries.  He chairs the Arctic Migratory Bird Initiative. 
There are numerous reasons for the sharp decline of migratory shorebirds in East Asia over the past two decades, including urban development, subsistence and market trapping and hunting, and massive losses of wetlands habitat. There are promising signs that Spoon-billed Sandpiper numbers have stabilized, and Dr Syroechkovskiy will have some positive news to report for the 2017 breeding seasons, and discuss opportunities for further action.
Doors will open at 6:30.  The presentation will start at 7:00 and there will be time for Questions and Answers afterward.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Aaron Maizlish (aaron@birdfund.org) or Graham Chisholm (graham@birdfund.org.)  To contribute to ongoing Spoon-billed Sandpiper conservation work, please visit our website at www.birdfund.org.
LOCATION:Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco, 1197 Franklin Street @ Geary, San Francisco, CA, 94109
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