The bird with which the Saemangeum reclamation project has become synonymous with, Spoon-billed Sandpiper. While not normally a good photo, I think any photo of a Spooner is a good photo! We had been thwarted a couple of times in our search for this bird, but Nial miraculously got us into the right location of this vast area early on the morning of the next to the last day. The reliable spot, the Okku salt pans had recently been destroyed, so it became a guessing game for Nial of where to get the birds on the ebbing tide.

This was easily on everyone's top 3 list, even though a couple of tour members had previously seen them in Hong Kong and Thailand. Seeing them in bright breeding plumage, and finally realizing that yes, that IS a Spooner with the Red-necked Stints, was quite an emotional high. Within minutes we had both Spooners and Nordmann's Greenshank, and you could sense the stress that had slowly built-up in our unsuccessful attempts just fade away!