As part of a strategy to help protect the globally rare Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Audubon California and noted birder David Sibley teamed up to raise $5,000 to help the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand  (BCST) staff a visitor center in the community of Pak Thale, Thailand. The center, about 75 miles from Bangkok on the Gulf of Thailand, will help visitors enjoy the nearby saltpans which hold a small wintering population of Spoon-billed Sandpipers and other wintering water birds. The grant will help BCST provide year round staffing for the center to increase public interest in the plight of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and build local and provincial support for conservation measures to protect the site. It is also hoped that the center will help generate income to the local community from visiting birders. (video above by David Sibley)

The BCST will establish a manned information center which will employ local community members to run it, sell souvenirs, refreshments, etc. to visiting birding groups. This will also help persuade the province administration of the ecotourism and conservation potential of the site.

David Sibley auctioned a painting of Spoon-billed Sandpiper that he painted during his visit to the site in 2010 and Audubon California provided matching funds. Spoon-billed Sandpiper numbers are estimated to be perhaps under 500 individuals and are the focus of a multi-national conservation campaign. The sandpipers breed in northeastern Russia and winter in southeast Asia with the largest concentration in Myanmar.