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Bird name:

Far Eastern Curlew

Numenius madagascariensis

Order

CHARADRIIFORMES

Family

Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Code 4

FECU

Code 6

NUMMAD

ITIS

176598

ILLUSTRATION

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PHOTOS

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SUMMARY

Overview

Far Eastern Curlew: Largest curlew, very long, decurved bill, longest of any shorebird. Dark brown with heavily streaked underparts. Blue-gray legs, feet. Eats crustaceans, marine worms, insects, larvae, invertebrates. Strong steady flight, rapid wing beats. Flies in straight line or V formation.


Range and Habitat

Far Eastern Curlew: Very rarely wanders to the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands of Alaska in spring.

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SONGS AND CALLS

Voice Text

"curr-ee"

INTERESTING FACTS

  • The Eastern Curlew is also known as the Far Eastern Curlew, the Australian Curlew, the Sea Curlew and just plain Curlew. It is the largest migratory wading bird in the world.
  • Named "Numenius madagascariensis" by Linnaeus in 1766, it appears that the famous biologist mistakenly confused Madigascar with Macassar. The more appropriate name would be Numenius macassariensis.
  • During courtship the males attract females through their calls and their dances. The males flutter their wings, leaping up to 10-15 metres off the ground and trilling as they do.
  • A group of curlews has many collective nouns, including a "curfew", "game", "head", "salon", and "skein" of curlews.

RELATED BIRDS

RANGE MAP

Range Map for Far Eastern Curlew

TERMINOLOGY

CREDITS

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

David Wenzel

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UnderpartsX
Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.
4 and 6 letter alpha codesX

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

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ITIS CodesX

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990�s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html. You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.

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Parts of a Standing birdX
Head Feathers and MarkingsX
Parts of a Flying birdX