Eskimo Curlew
A vanishing species?
The Eskimo Curlew's Year
Spring Migration (South)
SPRING MIGRATION: The route of the curlew's northward flight from Argentina to Texas is the greatest void in our knowledge of its range. There are no verified spring records in South America outside the wintering areas and only two in Central America (Map 3 & Map 4).
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS (0°30'S)
STATUS: Hypothetical.
Sharpe (1896:369) refers to an observation on Charles Island prior to 1883
which Bent (1962:136) states is "probably" a Whimbrel.
COSTA RICA
STATUS: Hypothetical. There is a single report by Zeledon (Cooke 1910:75).
GUATEMALA
Specimens: 1
STATUS: Accidental. RECENTLY: Accidental.
DATES: APRIL*, NOVEMBER 19, 1977 (Hahn 1963; Zedekar et al. 1980).
"A single specimen of this well-known North American bird was sent home last
autumn by Mr. R. Owen. It was shot at San Geronimo*" (Salvin 1861:356).
This refers to the specimen dated "April."
The most recent observation was made near Likin by three California
birdwatchers: "[A] lone bird...definitely not a Whimbrel....passed our boat...circled,
affording us a good chance to study it. The bird was small...very buffy underneath....There
were no distinct markings on the head....The bill was short...slightly decurved."
They could not rule out the possibility, however, that this bird was a Little
Curlew (Zedekar et al. 1980:849).
MEXICO
Specimens: 3
STATUS: Rare spring migrant.
Chihuahua: designated as "accidental" by Friedmann et al. (1950:93).
One of the specimens is undated, one was taken before 1896 and one is for
8 April 1892 at Lake Palomas, Chihuahua, just south of New Mexico
(Hahn 1963).
NEW MEXICO
STATUS: Hypothetical.
Bailey 1928:262 noted that "there is no sure record for either New Mexico
or Colorado, but the straggler collected by Dr. Mearns April 8, 1892, at Lake
Palomas on the New Mexico-Chihuabua line would undoubtedly have crossed both
these States within the next few days."
TEXAS
Specimens: 30+
STATUS: Regular common spring migrant. RECENTLY: Irregular rare spring.
Mitchell (Forbush 1916:422): "They used to visit the prairies [of southern
Texas] in immense flocks...." Wolfe (Sutton 1967:186): "Formerly a common migrant
in the central and eastern part of the state." Oberholser (1974:332,334): "Abundant
to uncommon in spring through most of state; one fall sighting....During spring
migration in the last century, this curlew was exceedingly abundant on the prairies
of Texas, particularly in the middle portion of the state."
DATES: 1890*, JANUARY 21, MARCH** 7***, 7, 7, 8*, 8, 9*, 12, 12, 15*, 17***,
17, 17, 19**, 19*, 20, 22*, 22, 24, 24, 25, 26*, 26, 27*, 27, 27, 28***, 28*,
29, 30, 30, 31, APRIL 1, 2*, 2*, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15,
18, 23*, 26, 26, 27, 28, 29, 29 30, MAY 4***, 7, 1981, OCTOBER
15; undated* (Lahrman 1972; Hahn 1963; Oberholser 1974; Cooke 1888, 1910; Blankinship
and King 1984; Williams 1959; Webster 1963, 1964; Emanuel 1961, 1962; Baird
et al. 1884; Weston and Williams 1965; Heiser 1945; Lieftinck 1968; Arvin 1981).
While there was apparently little written on the Eskimo Curlew in Texas when
it was common, there is more information since 1945 than for any other area.
Prior to 1884, "Mr. Dresser met with it in spring at San Antonio, where
it was more common than the Hudsonicus [Whimbrel], but not so abundant
as the longirostris [Long-billed Curlew]....Dr. Lincecum [Washington
Co.]...[noted that] they came in company with the Common Golden Plover, and
seemed to feed in the same manner and on the same food. They were found thinly
scattered among the Plovers, and were wild and hard to shoot. They were generally
very lean" (Baird et al. 1884:1:319-320).
"On April 29, 1945, two Eskimo Curlews were seen at Galveston [Island]....The
birds were amongst a huge assemblage of marsh and shore birds, including Buff-breasted
and other sandpipers, Black-bellied Plovers, Eastern and Western Willets, various
herons, and hundreds of Hudsonian Curlews. All were feeding over a wide area
of sand flats, shallow ponds, and grassy patches near West Bay..." (Heiser 1945:635;
Map 7 (Map 7 is not published in this resource), Fig. 19).
The longest period of observation of a bird, whether or not the same one,
was 22 March through 26 April 1959 on Galveston Island. On its habitat, behaviour
and associates Williams (1959:539-540) reported it to be "noticeably smaller
than two Long-billed Curlews (Numenius americanus) between which it was
feeding. On April 5...the same, or a similar, bird...[was] in a 200-acre grassy
pasture about six miles north of the place of the previous observation....Emanuel
saw it again on April 8, in the same pasture. We had no difficulty in spotting
the bird [April 10]...in the same pasture....We...set...[the telescope] up on
its tripod several times as we approached the bird, which showed no nervousness,
but walked about, fed, squatted in the grass, and preened itself. We finally
set up the telescope less than 200 feet from the bird....[A] Whimbrel ran up
beside...[it], and began pecking in the same clump of grass where the other
was pecking....Several times the bird stretched its wings above its back; the
entire area beneath the wings was a delicate pinkish buff....Mr. Armand Yramategui..the
last person to report it-April 26, 1959, [found it] in the same pasture where
it was seen so often....[The 1945 birds were] about three miles from the place
where this one was seen....
"The pasture in which the bird was seen most often was being grazed by cattle;
it was well drained and gently rolling, with grass about three to four inches
high. Though Whimbrels, Long-billed Curlews, Buff-breasted Sandpipers, Lesser
Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpipers, Golden Plovers, Mountain Plovers, and Killdeer
were present in the pasture either continuously or occasionally throughout April,
the Eskimo Curlew consorted with none of them regularly. But Emanuel and Fowler
report that, on April 12, the bird flew into the pasture in company with a flock
of about 20 Golden Plovers, and stayed with this flock (flying and settling
with it) the entire afternoon. On April 26, Yramategui saw it keeping company
with four Golden Plovers....When the Eskimo Curlew was feeding, and was approached,
other birds nearby generally departed before it did. But once it had been disturbed,
it flushed more easily thereafter, and would fly off alone even when other birds
remained. Only Feltner and Deaver heard it call. They said the call was different
from that of both Whimbrel and Long-billed Curlew; they described it as "'a
low tremulous whistle.'"
Concerning the 1960 sighting, Emanuel (1961:259) commented, in part: "We identified...an
Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis) among four Whimbrels (N. phaeopus)
in a pasture on Galveston Island....lt fed on well-drained ground where the
grass was about eight cm high....After 3 April, despite intensive search of
the area for almost two weeks, the bird was reported on only two other occasions.
On 4 April...[and 6]...in the same pasture...." Of the 1962 record, he wrote:
"An identical bird, possibly the same one, appeared in the same area in April
1960, April 1961, and again this spring [1962]" (Emanuel 1962:162).
Figure 19. Pasture on Galveston Island, Texas. Andy Tirpak.
Don Bleitz was apparently the first to take good photographs of an Eskimo
Curlew -in April 1962 in Texas. Two of his photographs, used in this report,
have appeared extensively. His report read, in part: "Although the field was
large and nicely cropped (a cattle range), we could almost always find the bird
within a few minutes after arriving....On a number of occasions, l approached
to within forty feet of this particular bird.... "
A second bird was then discovered "in a nearby field." It too was identified
as "a typical Eskimo Curlew," by Dr. George Lowery and his group, who approached
to within 35 feet of it...."
Bleitz continued, "I was again photographing a male when I suddenly became
aware of another [a third] Eskimo Curlew standing almost beside the one I was
photographing. Immediately the first bird, which had been using this feeding
territory, ran at the new arrival and continued to jab at him with its bill
until he was able to flush the new individual which apparently was also a male.
"About fifteen feet further on, I discovered another similar bird, undoubtedly
also a male. The bird I had been photographing again immediately ran at this
second bird and drove it away as well....
"On several occasions the male bird hovered just above my blind, perhaps 15
feet over my head, calling in a tremulous whistle somewhat reminiscent of the
call of the Long-billed Dowitchers on their nesting grounds. It also had a 'tee
dee dee' note, usually either two or three syllables" (Bleitz 1962a:43-44).
The April 11 and 12, 1963, sighting was "on the same sand flat south of
Rockport, Texas, where Mrs. Hagar had seen one in 1950" (Webster 1963:418;
Weston and Williams 1965:496).
Summarizing Eskimo Curlew observations for the early 1960s, Feltner wrote
that they were "most often on the western end of Galveston Island. Here its
favorite habitat seems to be grassy fields that have been closely grazed by
cattle. The consortium of birds that share this curlew habitat is made up primarily
of Long-billed Curlews, Whimbrels, Upland Plovers, and Golden Plovers. The latter
is by far the most numerous and the most likely companion to the Eskimo Curlew....
"The Eskimo Curlew behaves much the same as the Whimbrel in the field although
when flushed it usually flies alone or with Golden Plovers. On one occasion
it exhibited a rather peculiar trait. As the observer approached a solitary
bird feeding in an open field, instead of flushing, it squatted, froze like
a snipe, and allowed approach to within approximately six feet" (Lane and Tveten
1974:28). This same behaviour was described by Audubon more than a century before
(Audubon 1967:6:47; see Quebec).
The most recent Texas sighting of Eskimo Curlews- 7 May 1981, on
Atkinson Island in Galveston Bay-also involved the largest number
in 80 years-23 birds The flock "was standing on a grassy spit that separated
the bay from the interior marsh. We moved to within 50 meters of the birds and
observed them....The flock circled over the marsh and then split into two groups
with six to eight birds heading west toward Morgan's Point and the remainder
circling and then landing far out in the marsh where they were no longer visible.
The birds were silent in the air and flew in an unorganized but fairly tight
flock until just before dividing, when the flock formed a line" (Blankinship
and King 1984:1066).
Little has been reported about hunting in Texas. The only significant item
is Mackay's report of Eskimo Curlews and other shorebirds being shipped to Boston
markets from Fort Worth in the spring of 1890 (1891:24).
Concerning their decline in Texas, J.D. Mitchell recalled that from 1856 "to
1875 they came every spring in immense flocks on the prairies; after that they
disappeared. In 1886 he saw several small flocks in Calhoun County,
and in 1905 he saw three birds feeding with four Black-breasted Plover in
Victoria County....Mr. A.S. Eldredge says that this Curlew came through
the region about Lampasas*, Tex., in 1890, in flocks of fifteen or twenty.
In 1902 he killed one bird,-the only one that he saw" (Forbush 1916:422).
OTHER LOCALITIES: Boerne***, Brownsville*********, Corpus Christi*, Ft. Brown*
(Brownsville), Ft. StocktonA**, Gainesville*****, Kendall Co***, Long Point*,
Nueces Co.**, Padre Island*, Wise Co. (Sharpe 1896, plus references under DATES).
MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY
STATUS: "The most abundant of the three Curlews. Migrates through the Mississippi Valley in immense numbers" prior to 1886 (Cooke 1888:98).
LOUISIANA
Specimens: 4
STATUS: Regular common spring migrant.
McIlhenny (1897:289): "A common winter resident along the coast." Beyer et
al. (1908:179): "A migrant only...formerly common." Oberholser (1938:239): "Formerly
apparently a common spring transient in March and April, and was reported to
occur also in the fall....lt is recorded only from the southern part of Louisiana."
Lowery (1955:248): "Once migrated through the southern and southwestern parts
of our state in vast numbers....each spring."
DATES: MARCH 16*, 17, 23, 1889, 27*, 30*, APRIL 4*, 5-10 (flocks
seen by Audubon in 1837) (Oberholser 1938; Forbush 1916).
LOCALITIES: Barataria Bay, New Orleans***, Rayed (Oberholser 1938).
MISSISSIPPI
STATUS: Not recorded.
The American Ornithologists' Union Check-list for 1957 reads: "Migrated in
spring through...Mississippi through the Mississippi...river drainage...." The
1983 edition uses similar wording but deletes mention of the state.
ARKANSAS
Specimens: 0
STATUS: Hypothetical.
"The only record of the occurrence of this bird in Arkansas is furnished by
Prof. Harvey, who noted its arrival at Fayetteville March 31, 1883" (Howell
1911:32).
OKLAHOMA
Specimens: 2
STATUS: Regular common spring migrant. RECENTLY: Accidental.
Margaret M. Nice, writing in 1931: "Formerly an abundant spring transient...."
Sutton (1967:185): "Formerly a regular and abundant spring transient...."
DATES: 1878**, MARCH 25, APRIL 2, 18, 1948.
Cooke (1888:98): "In the spring of 1884 the first came to... Caddo,
Ind. Ter., March 25, and the prairies were fairly alive with them at Caddo,
April 2." In a later paper Cooke (1915b:287) described what was apparently the
same observation: "Even as late as the spring of 1884 the writer saw curlews
by thousands going north across the Oklahoma prairies. To one seeing those apparently
endless lines of birds flying swiftly by, day after day, it would have seemed
as impossible that this curlew could ever be exterminated as it did to the early
settlers that the passenger pigeon should become a bird of the past."
Sutton mentioned two specimens from Camp Supply**, Indian Territory,
collected in 1878. (Sutton 1967:186).
The most recent report, short on detail, is of "four individuals of this nearly
extinct species...seen in Osage County, April 18, 1948, by Tom and Cepha
Jessee and Orrin and Ethel Letson" (Lesson and Kassing 1949:25).
COLORADO
Specimens: 2
STATUS: Accidental spring migrant.
There is one record: two specimens, male and female, shot at Smith's Lake
near Denver, 29 April 1882 (Hahn 1963:199; Jewett 1942:74). "Dwight
D. Stone...revealed...that the two curlew were in a small depression two miles
from the city. He wrote: `At that time 27th Street was the last, and there were
houses only on the west side. The birds were somewhat shy of me, but I managed
to get both'....Mr. Stone sold both curlew to the veteran ornithologist, H.K.Coale,
for forty-five dollars" (Bailey and Niedrach 1965:335).
KANSAS
Specimens: 5
STATUS: Regular common spring migrant.
Goss (1886:18): "Migratory; abundant." Johnston (1965:22) "Formerly common
transient, chiefly east."
DATES: "Arrive the last of March to middle of April" (Goss 1886); "March-June"
(Johnston 1965). MARCH 24*, APRIL* 13 (1st), 14 (1st), 21*, MAY 5, 6* JUNE 16*,
1902 (Hahn 1963; Cooke 1910; Bent 1962; Johnston 1960, 1965).
The only fossil Eskimo Curlew-"humeral end of right coracoid"-has been found
in a Pleistocene deposit in McPherson Co. (Galbreath 1955:62).
Concerning their decline in Kansas, Forbush (1916:423) reports: "Mr. James
Howard of Wichita says that the last time that these curlews were killed
there in any numbers was in the springs of 1878 and 1879. A good many were taken
in 1878, but they were much reduced in 1879. They decreased rapidly afterward,
and were not seen in numbers in the markets after 1878. Mr. Fred G. Smyth of
Wichita says that the Curlews disappeared rather rapidly, and that the last
bird was shot in the spring of 1902.... Mr. Charles Payne, a naturalist, says
that there were still a few Eskimo Curlews in the markets of Kansas in the early
90's."
OTHER LOCALITIES: Douglas Co.*, Emporia*, Ft. Hays*, Lawrence, Neosho Falls*,
Russell Cog, Sedgwick Co. (Hahn 1963; Cooke 1910; Ridgway 1919; Bent 1962; Forbush
1916; Aldrich 1977).
MISSOURI
Specimens: 2
STATUS: Regular common spring migrant.
Widmann (1907:75): "[A] now rare transient visitant in spring, formerly very
common in western Missouri late in March and throughout April."
DATES: MARCH 25, APRIL 6, 10*, 16*, MAY 1, 1902 (Cooke 1888; Hahn
1963; Widmann 1907).
"Mr. Otto Widmann writes me that it was irregularly common in the markets of St. Louis* during the last two decades of the century" (Forbush 1916:424). And "one was found in the Saint Louis market April 6" (Cooke 1888:98).
The latest record: "Mr. W.G. Savage met with a flock of ten in Jasper Co.,
May 1
1902." The specimen of April 16 was from a flock of 100 in Vernon CO.A (Hahn
1963:203; Widmann 1907:75).
MISSOURI RIVER DRAINAGE
STATUS: "The Esquimaux Curlew migrates through the Missouri region, in immense numbers, in May" (Coues 1874:510-511).
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