Bird name:

Eurasian Curlew

Numenius arquata

Order

CHARADRIIFORMES

Family

Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Code 4

EUCU

Code 6

NUMARQ

ITIS

176596

Breeding Location:

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Dark olive with brown marks

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

27 - 29

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Grass

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Eurasian Curlew: Large curlew with strongly marked underparts that lack rich orange or buff tones that other long billed curlews often show. Unique among curlews in showing prominent white back and rump in flight and wing underwing linings. Sexes similar. Juvenile is very similar to adult but underparts not as strongly marked.

Range and Habitat

Eurasian Curlew: Breeds in wet fields, forest edges, and marshes across Europe and northern Asia. Winters on marine mudflats along all the coasts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Very rarely appears on Atlantic coast of North America during fall and winter.

Breeding and Nesting

Eurasian Curlew: Nest built on ground among grasses or tussocks with male making several crude scrapes and female picking one to line with fine grasses. Lays four brown marked, dark olive eggs that are incubated by both parents for 27 to 29 days. Newly hatched chicks are feed by both parents, but can soon feed themselves. First flight in just over a month.

Foraging and Feeding

Eurasian Curlew: Feeds by probing with long bill into soil, mud, or sand. Eats a variety of insects, larvae, and crustaceans. Feeds in wet meadows, forest edges, and marshes during the breeding season, but shifts to coastal marine mudflats during nonbreeding season and gathers in large flocks.

Vocalization

Eurasian Curlew: Loud rising "cur-li cur-li cur-li."

Similar Species

Eurasian Curlew: Long-billed Curlew has rather plain orange underparts, orange wing linings, and heavily marked rump. Far Eastern Curlew has significantly longer bill, more richly colored orange underparts, and heavily marked wing linings.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

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.

Field Guide to Birds of North America