There are fewer than 100 breeding pairs of the spoon-billed sandpiper left in the world, and a stretch of intertidal mudflats in Jiangsu province is one of the last resting places on their migration route. Chen Liang reports.

Few Chinese know of the spoon-billed sandpiper, a migratory wader about the size of a sparrow known for its flattened bill that flares into a "spoon" at the tip.

But the bird is a species found in China and it is much more endangered than the giant panda. In fact, it was listed as one of the 100 most endangered species on the planet by the International Union for Conservation and Zoological Society of London in 2012, with fewer than 100 breeding pairs left in the wild.