Bristle-thighed Curlew

Numenius tahitiensis (Gmelin, JF, 1789)

Bristle-thighed Curlew, Numenius tahitiensis, breeds in the low Arctic upland tundra of western Alaska, on the northern Seward Peninsula and in the northern Yukon Delta. Outside the breeding season it ranges across tropical Pacific islands, including Micronesia, Fiji, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Kauai and the wider Polynesian region, with rarer records from Japan and Melanesia. It is a shorebird in the sandpiper and snipe family. Its most distinctive feature is the bristled feathers at the base of the legs, together with a long, downcurved bill. It was first described in 1789 by Gmelin.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Scolopacidae — Sandpipers, Snipes

Breeding range

North America: low Arctic upland tundra of w Alaska: nc Seward Pen. and n Yukon Delta

Nonbreeding range

c, s PO is.: Micronesia and Fiji (sw Polynesia) e through Northwestern Hawaiian Is. and Kaui (rarer on other main Hawaiian Is.) and all Polynesian islands; rarer to Japan and Melanesia