Long-Billed Curlew (Numenius americanus) lives in grasslands and wetlands across North America. It feeds on insects and crustaceans. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the Long-Billed Curlew
- Its bill can stretch up to 21.9 cm, making it the longest among shorebirds and rivaling the Far-Eastern curlew's beak. This extreme length lets the bird probe deep into mud and sand, allowing it to exploit hidden crabs and worms. The bill's size also defines its nickname "candlestick bird."
- Females are larger than males, a rare case of reversed sexual dimorphism in sandpipers. A female's bill can be noticeably longer. After the chicks hatch, the female usually leaves the brood after 1-3 weeks, allowing the male to raise the young alone.
- Although once hunted to near-extinction, the long-billed curlew was down-listed to Least Concern in 2008 after populations rebounded. Yet fewer than 100 birds still winter on the Atlantic coast, a "ghost" remnant of a once-large eastern flock. Tracking a tagged bird in December 2015 showed it left Georgia in April 2016, highlighting how a tiny surviving group still migrates across the continent, offering a living clue to historic range loss.
- A single clutch contains four eggs that hatch after about 27 days, and the chicks are precocial, leaving the nest within hours. Newborns weigh only 44-66 g, yet they can run up to 100 m from a parent during the day before being called back to roost.
- During the breeding season the male performs looping, figure-8 flights and ground calls to attract a mate, then switches to evening incubation while the female sits during the day.
Sources
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At a glance
RangeNorth America
HabitatGrasslands and wetlands
DietInsects and crustaceans
About the Long-Billed Curlew
As the Long-Billed Curlew glides effortlessly across the marshy wetlands, its slender silhouette is a masterclass in understated elegance, the gentle curves of its wings beating in a slow, hypnotic rhythm that belies the urgency of its quest for sustenance. With each deliberate step, the curlew probes the soft earth with its remarkably long, decurved bill, a precision instrument honed by millennia of evolution to unearth the hidden treasures of the mudflats. In this serene and measured dance, the Long-Billed Curlew embodies the quiet confidence of a species at one with its environment.
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