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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Specimens: 43

STATUS: Regular common breeding. RECENTLY: Rare.

MacFarlane 1891:429: "This species breeds abundantly in the Barren Grounds to the eastward of Fort Anderson*-and, except when otherwise described, these are the 'Barrens,' which are invariably referred to, right up to the Polar Sea."

DATES: MAY* 18, 26*, 27, 27*, 28, JUNE*** 4, 8*, 8, 11*, 12, 13**, 16+/-*, 16***, 18, 18*, 19***, 20*, 20*, 23*, 23*, 24**, 24*, 26, 26**, 28*, 29**, 30, 30, JULY**** 5+/-*, 5*, 6, 10, 1985, 12**, 15, 16*, 18, AUGUST 2, 3-13,8,15, SUMMER ****. (References are given below in this treatment and in Appendix 1. A single asterisk has been assigned to each place-name at which MacFarlane collected.)

Eleven unpublished sight records since 1955 are presented below without comment on their veracity, beginning with the latest year. (1) 10 July 1985, Kendall Island [Mackenzie Delta]: "We saw six Eskimo Curlews....We were out birding on the tundra east of the whaling camp when they flew over us and landed a short distance (about twenty yards) in front of us. They were flying from west to east. We are both familiar with the...Whimbrel....We were struck first by its small size...and its short, dark beak. On the ground they [were] fairly uniform in color, darker brown above and paler brown below. They had a light superciliary mark but much fainter than Whimbrel's. When they flew, they showed dark primaries and a cinnamon color" (from letter of 17 July 1985 by Michael Whitt (with Tupper Blake) to Henri Ouellet).

(2) 15 August 1982, Atkinson Point, Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula: "...13:10 DST...cloudy...heard bird calling-seven or eight whistles, the last two or three lower than the first-like a Yellowlegs except less mellow & less loud....first seen flying at 5 to 10' above the ground...heading ENE-flew within about 20' of me....bill curved downward, shorter & finer than a Whimbrel's....smaller than a Whimbrel but larger than a Pectoral Sandpiper-bill too curved & bird too large to be a Stilt....call wrong for a Whimbrel.-underparts were light in colour but I could not distinguish cinnamon lining....looked for striping on crown of Whimbrel, but saw none, only a brownish line through eye..." (from note of 22 October 1982 by Lynne Dickson to Barry (TWB).

(3) 8 June 1980, Grassy (Kettle-hole) Point, Anderson River Delta: "Single small curlew landed 10 feet from T.W. and S.J. Barry. It quickly flew and landed several times up to 200 feet. Watched for 10 minutes in bright sun before it flew south upstream. Restless. No calls heard. Tended to hold wings up on first landing; underwing rich cinnamon. No wingstripe, buffy rump. Seen with Stilt Sandpipers, Whimbrel, golden plover, Hudsonian Godwit, Semipalmated Plover and numerous peeps and phalaropes" (TWB).

(4) 8 August 1976, Lac Rendez-vous: "A single small curlew was seen...at a distance of about 100 m. Call was not like a Whimbrel's" (TWB). (5) 18 May 1964, Anderson River Forks (135 km (84 mi.) south of the mouth of the river): one studied flying and feeding. Wrote detailed description; identified later. By R.W. Fyfe and Willie Simon, an Indian. (6) 28 May 1964, Fox Den Island (South Flat Island), Anderson River Delta: "A single bird" (TWB). (7) 12 June 1964, Observation Monument (30+/- km (19 mi.) upstream from the mouth of the Anderson River; TWB). (8) 6 July 1964, Husky Bend (50+/- km (30 mi.) upstream from the mouth of the Anderson River; TWB). (9) 4 June 1962, Fox Den Island: "One bird....With Pectoral Sandpipers, Whimbrels, Hudsonian Godwits, Buff-breasted and Semipalmated Sandpipers" (TWB). (10) 18 July 1961, Bipsi Lake, Anderson River Delta: "one bird...with 8 Whimbrels and 11 Golden Plover" (TWB). (11) Between 3-13 August 1955, Anderson River: J. Ross Mackay saw a flock flying south between the mouth and 130 km (80 mi.) upstream. Whimbrel were also seen. Reported as Whimbrel in Hohn 1959:11 3 because Mackay thought the Eskimo Curlew was extinct (from letter of 9 February 1971 by J.R. Mackay to A.H. Macpherson).

Reports, other than MacFarlane's records in Appendix 1, for the 1800s are: (1) Fall 1820 or spring 1821: one collected and painted by Hood at Fort Enterprise*, illustrated in Plate 23 in Houston 1974.

(2) John Richardson discovered the first nest of the Eskimo Curlew in 1821. His description is included in the following: "This Curlew frequents the barren lands within the Arctic circle in summer, where it feeds on grubs, fresh-water insects, and the fruit of Empetrum nigrum. Its eggs, three or four in number, have a pyriform shape and a siskin-green colour, clouded with a few large irregular spots of bright umberbrown. The Copper Indians believe that this bird and some others betray the approach of strangers to the Esquimaux; and it is very probable that persecuted people, always in dread of the treacherous attacks of their enemies, and accustomed to observe the few animals that visit their country with great attention, will be on the alert when they perceive a bird flying anxiously backwards and forwards over a particular spot. On the 13th of June, 1822, I discovered one of these Curlews hatching on three eggs on the shore of Point Lake*. When I approached the nest, she ran a short distance, crouching close to the ground, and then stopped to observe the fate of the object of her cares" (Swainson and Richardson 1831:378). The year 1822 is given by Richardson himself and is, naturally, repeated by most authors. However, Preble (1908:332) gives "1822 [1821]" and Houston (1974:157) gives it as 1821, because Richardson was at Point Lake only in 1821.

(3) Shortly after 22 May 1849 Richardson found them at Fort Franklin on the west shore of Great Bear Lake (Richardson 1852:108). (4) 26 May 1860: Kennicott reported taking a specimen at Fort Resolution* (Kennicott 1942:79). (5) Before 1862: B.R. Ross (1862a:151) reported it "N. to Fort Good Hope*. Rare." Explained in a footnote (p. 155), this type of notation means that he collected a specimen there. Hahn (1963:182, 191) lists a specimen collected by "Ross" and another for Fort Good Hope. (6) 27 May 1865, Fort Anderson: arrival date given by MacFarlane (Preble 1908:332). (7) May 1865, Great Slave Lake*: a specimen (Hahn 1963:191). (8) 2 August 1860s: late date, presumably from MacFarlane's notes for Anderson River (Bent 1962:135). (9) June 1878: "A few flocks seen passing northward up Kingwah [Kingnait?] Fjord*" in Cumberland Sound. "Not noticed in autumn. Well known to the Cumberland Eskimo." One specimen collected (Kumlien 1879:88).

Before 1891: a specimen at Fort Simpson (Hahn 1963:183). The remnant of this item is apparently one egg in the U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., labelled "Ft. Simpson, Mts. W. of Lower Mackenzie R. McDonald" (M.A. Howe, pers. comm.). We have rejected this location as a valid record. If the specimen was MacFarlane's: 1) MacFarlane made his last shipment of Fort Anderson specimens from Fort Simpson, hence the possibility that Fort Simpson was assigned as the collecting locality by museum personnel. 2) MacFarlane does not list a "McDonald" among 16 colleagues; "McDonald" may be a cataloguer's error (MacFarlane 1891:413). If the specimen was not MacFarlane's, it is suspect because from 1859-1861, the Chief Trader for the Mackenzie River District, Bernard Ross, stationed at Fort Simpson, "had an annoying habit...of funnelling all collections through Fort Simpson where he often put his own labels on specimens collected by his junior officers" (Thomas 1985).