Little Curlew

Overview

Little Curlew: Medium curlew, brown-streaked upperparts, white throat, dark-streaked gray breast, and white belly. Head has brown crown. Bill is short and slightly down-curved. Legs and feet are blue-gray. Forages in grassy fields. Bouyant direct flight with steady, rapid wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Little Curlew: Very rare species; breeds in central and northeast Siberia and winters mainly in northern Australia; casual fall vagrant to coastal California. Breeds in open woodlands in river valleys; otherwise found on grasslands, cultivated areas, and around margins of ponds and lakes, less often on coasts.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Little Curlew is also called Little Whimbrel and Pygmy or Baby Curlew.
It is the smallest curlew. When alarmed, they either stand tall and erect or crouch in the grass.
A group of curlews has many collective nouns, including a "curfew", "game", "head", "salon", and "skein" of curlews.

The Little Curlew has a large range, estimated globally at 100,000 to 1,000,000 square kilometers. Native to Australia and Asia and introduced to Europe and the United States, this bird prefers forest, shrubland, and grassland ecosystems. The global population of this bird is estimated at 180,000 individuals and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Little Curlew is Least Concern.