Curlew
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 Long-Billed Curlew, Fishing Pier, Goose Island State Park, Texas
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N. phaeopus |
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For other uses, see Curlew (disambiguation).For alternative meanings of Numenius see Numenius (disambiguation).
Curlew is the common name for the bird genus Numenius, a group of eight wader species, characterised by a long slender downcurved bill and mainly brown plumage with little seasonal change. They one of the most ancient lineages of scolopacid waders, together with the godwits which look similar but have straight bills (Thomas, 2004). In Europe "Curlew" usually refers to one species, the Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata.
Curlews feed on mud or very soft ground, searching for worms and other invertebrates with their long bills. They will also take crabs and similar items.
[edit] Species in taxonomic order
- Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus
- Slender-billed Curlew Numenius tenuirostris (critically endangered, possibly extinct)
- Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata
- Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus
- Far Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis
- Little Curlew Numenius minutus
- Eskimo Curlew Numenius borealis (critically endangered, possibly extinct)
- Bristle-thighed Curlew Numenius tahitiensis
The Late Eocene (Montmartre Formation, some 35 mya) fossil Limosa gypsorum of France was originally placed in Numenius and may in fact belong there (Olson, 1985).
The Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicaudia) is an odd bird which is the closest relative of the curlews (Thomas, 2004). It is distinguished from them by its yellow legs, long tail, and shorter, less curved bill.
The stone-curlews are not true curlews (family Scolopacidae) but members of the family Burhinidae, which is in the same order Charadriiformes, but only distantly related within that.
[edit] References
- Hayman, Peter; Marchant, John & Prater, Tony (1986): Shorebirds: an identification guide to the waders of the world. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. ISBN 0-395-60237-8
- Olson, Storrs L. (1985): Section X.D.2.b. Scolopacidae. In: Farner, D.S.; King, J.R. & Parkes, Kenneth C. (eds.): Avian Biology 8: 174-175. Academic Press, New York.
- Thomas, Gavin H.; Wills, Matthew A. & Székely, Tamás (2004): A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny. BMC Evol. Biol. 4: 28. DOI:10.1186/1471-2148-4-28 PDF fulltext Supplementary Material
