Thursday 22 September 2022

Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

OTHER NAMES: Sicklebird, Candlestick Bird
Latin Etymology: Numenius (bird mentioned by Hesychius) americanus ("American") 

Adult Long-billed Curlew (subspecies N. a. parvus) at Monterey, California -  September 2022

Featured Subspecies: Numenius americanus parvus
Weight: 490-950g  /  Length: 50-65cm  /  Wingspan: 62-92cm
NO UK STATUS IUCN Red List: Least Concern

One of the three curlew species that, depending on the metric you use, tie up the category of "largest wader" and certainly the largest species of the group to be regularly found in North America. As the name suggests, the long probing beak is the immediate feature that sticks out and while overlapping with the similar Far-Eastern Curlew, holds the record for the longest beak of a wader at up to 21.9cm.

Related Species:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Numenius
SUBSPECIES: N. a. americanus, N. a. parvus 

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Breeds in West-Central North America and Winter along much of the Coast of the Lower 48
 - CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP:  Seen at HaywardBerkeley and Monterey
 

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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