Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

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A Field Guide to Eastern Birds. by Roger Tory Peterson.

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Color Photograph: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Color Photograph: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

Identification: Length from tip of bill to tip of tail 23 inches. A very large shorebird. Back and wings brown mottled with white. Bill extremely long and curved downward. Head with a vague white band over the eye and a vague dark line through the eye. Sides of neck and breast streaked with dark brown. Rest of undersides dull white. Legs dark gray, elongate.

Similar Species:  The Whimbrel is a similar species, but smaller (17 inches in length) with a down turned, but much shorter bill. The Marbled Godwit is similar in coloration and size, but has a straight to slightly upturned bill.

Breeding Range (see map below): The Long-billed Curlew breeds from the southern Prairie Provinces southward in the Great Plains States and the Rocky Mountains. The species is also resident all year along part of the Gulf Coast.

Overwintering Range:  This species overwinters along the southern Atlantic Coast, Texas, New Mexico, and California.

Habitat: The Long-billed Curlew is found on prairie and other grasslands during the breeding season. Migrating or overwintering birds are found on the shores of rivers and lakes, tidal mudflats, and salt marshes.

Food: Insects during the breeding season. Overwintering individuals switching to small mollusks and crustaceans.

Behavior:  The loss of its prairie habitat and overhunting has caused a sharp decrease in the populations of the Long-billed Curlew. The voice is a long, musical whistle.

Reproduction:  The clutch consists of 4 brown-spotted olive-tan eggs. The eggs are laid in a ground depression lined with grass and hidden in tall grasses.