Whimbrel

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Whimbrel
Numenius phaeopus
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Numenius
Species: N. phaeopus
Binomial name
Numenius phaeopus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic North America, Europe and Asia as far south as Scotland.

This is a migratory species wintering on coasts in Africa, South America, south Asia into Australasia and southern North America. It is also a coastal bird during migration.[2] It is fairly gregarious outside the breeding season.

Contents

Description [edit]

This is a fairly large wader though mid-sized as a member of the curlew genus. It is 37–47 cm (15–19 in) in length, 75–90 cm (30–35 in) and 270–493 g (9.5–17.4 oz) in weight.[3] It is mainly greyish brown, with a white back and rump (subspecies N. p. phaeopus and N. p. alboaxillaris only), and a long curved bill (longest in the adult female) with a kink rather than a smooth curve. It is generally wary. The usual call is a rippling whistle, prolonged into a trill for the song.

The only similar common species over most of this bird's range are larger curlews. The Whimbrel is smaller, has a shorter, decurved bill and has a central crown stripe and strong supercilia.

Subspecies [edit]

There are four subspecies:

  • Numenius phaeopus phaeopus - northern Europe, northwestern Asia
  • Numenius phaeopus variegatus - northeastern Asia
  • Numenius phaeopus alboaxillaris - central Asia (rare, endangered)
  • Numenius phaeopus hudsonicus (Hudsonian Curlew) - northern North America

Ecology [edit]

This species feeds by probing soft mud for small invertebrates and by picking small crabs and similar prey off the surface. Prior to migration, berries become an important part of their diet. It also eats blue butterflies.

The nest is a bare scrape on tundra or Arctic moorland. Three to five eggs are laid. Adults are very defensive of nesting area and will even attack humans who come too close.

Near the end of the 19th century, hunting on their migration routes took a heavy toll on this bird's numbers; the population has since recovered.

In the British Isles it breeds in Scotland, particularly around Shetland, Orkney, the Outer Hebrides as well as the mainland at Sutherland and Caithness.

The Whimbrel is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Gallery [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2012). "Numenius phaeopus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 16 July 2012. 
  2. ^ "Birds" (Collins Pocket Guide 1998), p.156.
  3. ^ Whimbrel entry at Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "All About Birds"

External links [edit]

Look up whimbrel in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Numenius phaeopus
Wikispecies has information related to: Numenius phaeopus
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