Eurasian Curlew

Numenius arquata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata, is a wader of the Scolopacidae family that breeds in subarctic and temperate wetlands and meadows across the Palearctic, from the Faroe Islands and the British Isles through Scandinavia to southern France, and east to Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Transbaikalia, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely through Africa and the Oriental Region, including coasts and larger rivers, and also reaches Iceland, southern Britain, southern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, south-east Asia, the Indonesian Archipelago, southern Japan, the Korean Peninsula, south-east China, Taiwan and the Philippines. It is marked by a very long, smoothly curved bill.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Scolopacidae — Sandpipers, Snipes

Breeding range

Palearctic: subarctic and temperate Palearctic wetlands, meadows: Faroe Is., British Isles, Scandinavia s to s France, e through n Kazakhstan and (locally) n Mongolia to Transbaikalia (ne Russia), Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang (ne China)

Nonbreeding range

Africa, Oriental Region: mainly subtropical to tropical coasts and larger rivers, Iceland, s British Isles, s Europe, Mediterranean, Africa, Malagasy region through Middle East, Indian subcontinent, se Asia, Indonesian Arch.; s, sc Japan, Korean Pen., se China, Taiwan and Philippines