Before the arrival of European settlers, the Eskimo Curlew was one of the most abundant shorebirds in the Western Hemisphere. By the late 1880s, the Eskimo Curlew had disappeared almost completely. It is now feared extinct. Its plight serves as a tragic example of the devastating potential of human impact upon the environment.

A denizen of the far north, the Eskimo Curlew is known to have bred in at least two locations within Canada's northwest territories. A more widespread breeding range, including a vast swath of northern Alaska and a portion of eastern Siberia, is suspected. The Eskimo Curlew also bred on the Arctic tundra. Prior to its decline, it was probably the most common Arctic summer bird. 

The field notes of early American ornithologists detail the startling decline of the Eskimo Curlew. Inconceivable as it seems that such an abundant species could become scarce within a decade or two, such was the plight of the Eskimo Curlew. In Texas, Kansas, and Canada's Maritime Provinces, the bird was reported in immense flocks during migration throughout the 1870s, but had disappeared almost entirely by the end of the century. Eskimo Curlew sightings became noteworthy. Rare reports of migrants continued throughout the first half of the century. Possibly the first and last photographs of Eskimo Curlews were obtained in Galveston County, Texas, in March 1962. The last confirmed curlew was a single bird, shot in Barbados in 1963. The species was officially listed as endangered in the U.S. in 1967, and in Canada in 1980; it is ranked as a species of global concern on Audubon's WatchList.

Unchecked hunting led to the Eskimo Curlew's rapid decline. Once, the Eskimo Curlews arriving on the Great Plains in spring, and on the north Atlantic coast in fall were so abundant were that a hunter could kill dozens of birds with a single shot. The flock would then disperse briefly, before returning to the same spot to be fired upon again, to be sold at east coast markets as "dough birds." 

 

Habitat loss also contributed to the curlews' decline. Beginning in the mid 19^th century, the wild tallgrass prairies of America's heartland were rapidly converted to agricultural lands. New crops were planted, and naturally occurring wildfires suppressed. These landscape changes led to the rapid extinction of the Rocky Mountain grasshopper, a primary food source for Eskimo Curlews migrating north across the prairies each spring.

 

The Eskimo Curlew received official protection with the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918—but by then, there were very few left. Organized efforts to locate remaining Eskimo Curlews began in the 1980s, targeting known breeding grounds, South American non-breeding grounds, and major migratory staging areas. Since the 1960s, there have been several unconfirmed reports of individual and even small flocks of Eskimo Curlews. Should a small population be found, a captive breeding program has been suggested, but any management strategy would be controversial. Should it occur, re-establishment of this hemisphere-crossing species would be among the most remarkable conservation stories in history!

Find out about actions you can take to benefit other declining birds.

The Last of the Curlews, Fred Bodsworth's 1955 novel, is an excellent and touching account of the life cycle and plight of the Eskimo Curlew in its waning years.

 

Learn more about this species and other birds through these resources.

Bent, A. C. Life Histories of North American Shorebirds. 1929. U.S. National Museum Bulletin 146.

 

Bodsworth, F. 1954. The Last of the Curlews. Longmans, Green and Co, Ltd, London.

 

Gill, R. E., Jr., P. Canevari, and E. H. Iversen. 1998. Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis). In The Birds of North America, No. 347 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

 

Gollop, J.B., T.W. Barry, and E.H. Iversen. 1986. Eskimo curlew a vanishing species? Saskatchewan Natural History Society Special Publication No. 17. Regina, Saskatchewan. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online.

 

Kaufman, Kenn. 1996. Lives of North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York.

Richards, Alan. Shorebirds: A Complete Guide to Their Behavior and Migration. Gallery Books, New York. 1988.