Eskimo Curlew

Eskimo curlews are small curlews, about 30 centimetres (12 in) in length, weighing approximately 360 g (13 oz), and having a wingspan of 70 cm (28 in). Adults have long dark greyish legs and a long bill curved slightly downward. The upperparts are mottled brown and the underparts are light brown. They show cinnamon wing linings in flight. They are similar in appearance to the Hudsonian whimbrel, but smaller in size. In the field, the only certain way to distinguish the Eskimo curlew is confirmation of its unbarred undersides of the primaries. The call is poorly understood, but includes clear whistling sounds. The Eskimo curlew forms a species pair with the Asian little curlew (Numenius minutus), but is slightly larger, longer-winged, shorter legged, and warmer in plumage tone than its Asian relative.

The Eskimo curlew is a New World bird. Members of this species bred on the tundra of western Arctic Canada and Alaska. Eskimo curlews migrated to the Pampas of Argentina in the late summer and returned in February. They used to be very rare vagrants to western Europe, but there have been no recent records. In Britain, there are four records, all from the nineteenth century. A comparison of dates and migratory patterns has led some to conjecture that Eskimo curlews and American golden plover are the shorebirds that attracted the attention of Christopher Columbus to nearby land after 65 days at sea and out of sight of land on his first voyage. In the 1800s, millions of Eskimo curlews followed migration routes from the present Yukon and Northwest Territories, flying east along the northern shore of Canada, then south over the Atlantic Ocean to South America in the winter. When returning to North America, they would fly north through the Great Plains.

Eskimo curlews pick up food by sight, and feed by probing. They eat mostly berries while on the fall migration in Canada. During the rest of their migration and on the breeding grounds, they eat insects. Snails and other invertebrates (including the extinct Rocky Mountain locust) also are part of their diet during migration.

The plight of this bird inspired the novel (and subsequent Emmy Award-winning 1972 ABC Afterschool Special) Last of the Curlews. The "Esquimaux Curlew" appears as plate CCCLVII of Audubon's Birds of America.