Adult. Photo: Alaska Region U.S. Fish and Wildlife/Flickr (CC BY NC ND 2.0)
Numenius tahitiensis
| Conservation status | Rare, population probably well under 10,000. Most threats are on wintering range, where the curlews are very vulnerable during the flightless stage of their molt. Sea level rise, driven by climate change, is likely to reduce the available wintering habitat. |
|---|---|
| Family | Sandpipers |
| Habitat | Tundra (Alaska); reefs and beaches in winter. Nests at a few sites in western Alaska, well inland in steep hilly country, on open tundra with scattered small shrubs. Winters on islands in tropical Pacific, on beaches, coral reefs, mudflats, grassy fields. |
Forages mostly by walking on ground, picking up items from surface, probably also probing in soil or mud with long bill. In feeding on thick-shelled eggs of albatrosses on winter range, may pick up a piece of rock and use it to crack the shell, a rare case of tool-using by a bird.
Usually 4. Olive-buff, blotched with brown. Incubation is by both sexes, roughly 25 days. Young: Downy young leave nest soon after hatching, are tended by both parents. Young feed themselves. Adults are very aggressive in defending the nest and young; may put on "distraction display" to lure predators away, or may directly attack even large predators. After a few days, families with young move away from nest site, eventually gathering with other families on hilltops. Adult females usually depart before young fledge, leaving males to care for young.
Downy young leave nest soon after hatching, are tended by both parents. Young feed themselves. Adults are very aggressive in defending the nest and young; may put on "distraction display" to lure predators away, or may directly attack even large predators. After a few days, families with young move away from nest site, eventually gathering with other families on hilltops. Adult females usually depart before young fledge, leaving males to care for young.
Includes crustaceans, insects, berries. Summer diet not well known, probably includes many insects. In late summer, may feed heavily on berries. On Pacific islands where it winters, feeds on crustaceans, snails, small fish; also eggs of seabirds nesting there.
Early in breeding season, male displays by flying over nesting territory, calling. Nest site is on the ground on hilly upland tundra with scattered small shrubs, with nest often placed directly under a dwarf willow. Nest is a shallow depression in tundra, lined with bits of lichen, moss, and leaves.
Scientists hope the plight of this shorebird, once among the most common in North America, will spur conservation for other troubled curlew species.
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