Artis Royal Zoo Rock sandpipers at Artis

Althrough it has already been mentioned in the "normal" Artis news-thread and there is already a photo of the species in the Gallery ( see Rock sandpiper | ZooChat ) I still think it's worth it to give this species it's own thread.
Mean reason for this is the fact that it now-a-days happens very, very rarely that a complete new species enters the Zoo-scene !
Artis recieved a number ( I heared about different numbers on different sources from 10 to 20 specimens ) Rock sandpipers ( Calidris ptilocnemis ) from a research-team doing research on this species during 2016 and they belong to 2 different subspecies ( C. p. ptilocnemis and C. p. tschuktschorum ).
On Februari 14 2017 devilfish and I visited Artis and saw the species in the outdoor-enclosure at the Bird-house ( see Aviary Rock sandpiper | ZooChat ) in which on warmer days the Inca terns are kept - a lifer for both of us !
We counted 10 specimens ( also the number Zootierliste mentions ) and saw 2 different forms - I guess the 2 different subspecies :
a darker form - 6 specimens ( see Rock sandpiper - dark form | ZooChat )
a lighter form - 4 specimens ( see Rock sandpiper -light form | ZooChat )
I hope Artis will be so smart to seperate the 2 subspecies during the breeding-time and will try to breed the sub-species to build up populations of both sub-species. I know 4 and 6 founders is a little few but maybe some more birds can be obtained from the research-project.
This because sandpipers are intresting birds which can be bred well in captivity and a good number of zoos has ( or has planned )Nordic themed areas in which an aviary with this species would fit very well.
Hopefully we can be here the withnesses of the start of a succesfull establishing of a species in captivity.
Would be intresting if some ZooChatter with good connections in Artis ( KB ? ) could find out howmany Rock sandpipers arrived at Artis and what the number is now ( maybe more are kept behind the scenes ? ).
Also it would be intresting to know what the plans are with the species - for example seperate the sub-species, placing pairs in special breeding aviaries and so on.
Made also a small video-clip of the species which can be found here :

 

If only you guys would have planned around the weekend ....! I might have joined you and provided you both with that hard bit of info .... myself.

 

Next time I want to visit Artis I surtainly will contact you but this time it was an unexpected, not-planned visit, sorry !