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Eskimo Curlew

A vanishing species?

Current Status

The Eskimo Curlew has apparently been reported in 25 of the last 41 years -- since 1945, when it was noted in Texas after a dearth of records for 40 years in that state (Table 1). All of these observations have been for North America except for a 1963 Barbados specimen and a 1977 Guatemala sighting. One or two birds have usually been seen and never more than six at a time except for 23 in Texas in 1981. The fortuitous observation of 23 birds is significant in that it provides proof that there have been at least that many survivors within the last five years, and give hope that there may well be at least twice that many.

Table 1. Eskimo Curlew sightings, 1945-1985, by area and number of birds1

Year Area/No. Birds Reference
1945     Texas/2     Heiser 1945:635
1946     South Carolina/1     Weston & Williams 1965:494
1947     New York/1     Terres 1980:770
1948     Oklahoma/4     Letson & Kassing 1949:25
1950     Texas/1     Weston & Williams 1965:494
1955     NWT/flock     MacKay (pers. comm.)
1956     South Carolina/1     Weston & Williams 1965:493
1959     New Jersey/1; Texas/1     Weston & Williams 1965:494-495; Williams 1959:539-541
1960     New Jersey/1; Texas/1     Leck 1984:70; Emanuel 1961:259
1961     NWT/1; Texas/1     Barry; Emanuel 1962:164-165
1962     NWT/1; Texas/4     Barry; Bleitz 1962a:43-45
1963     Barbados/12; Texas/1     M. Bond 1965:314; Webster 1963:418
1964     NWT/1,1,1,1; Texas/2     Barry; Fyfe (pers. comm.); Webster 1964:469
1968     Texas/1; Ontario/3     Lieftinck 1968:28; Prevett (pers. comm.)
1970     Massachusetts/1; Ontario/1     Finch 1971:27; Lumsden (pers. comm.)
1972     Massachusetts/2; Texas/1; Ontario/1     Daniels 1972:907-908; Lahrman 1972:87-88; Prevett (pers. comm.)
1973     North Carolina/1     Sonneborn 1975:35-35
1974     Ontario/1     Prevett (pers. comm.)
1976     NWT/1; Ontario/2     Barry; Hagar & Anderson 1977:135-136
1977     Guatemala/1     Zedekar et al. 1980:849
1980     Manitoba/1; NWT/1     Gollop 1980:788; Barry
1981     Texas/23     Blankinship & King 1984:1066
1982     Saskatchewan/1; NWT/1     Wedgwood 1982:865; Dicson (pers. comm.)
1983     Alsaka/1+1yg.     Gill & Amaral 1984:1
1985     NWT/6     Whitt & Blake (pers. comm.)

1We have rejected as typographical errors the following reports: Texas 1945 (Peterson 1969); Texas 1952 (Fisher et al. 1969); Texas 1956 (Iverson 1976); Texas 1962 (Cottam 1962); Texas 1965 (Fisher et al. 1969); Bermuda 1965 (Sprunt & Chamberlain 1970); Texas 1966 (Fisher et al. 1969).

2Specimen collected.

Eskimo Curlews, like most shorebirds, became protected the year round in North America under The Migratory Birds Treaty of 1916 between Canada and the United States. Promulgation of the treaty took the form of the Migratory Birds Convention Act in Canada in 1917 and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 in the United States. The species has since come under protection elsewhere in its range under (1) Convention between the United States and Mexico for the Protection of Migratory Birds and Game Animals 1936, (2) Convention on Natural Protection and Wildlife Preservation in the Western Hemisphere 1940, and (3) Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora 1974.

A portion of the Eskimo Curlew's breeding range has been protected by the Anderson River Migratory Bird Sanctuary, established in 1961 (Map 2). The most recent sighting in the Northwest Territories (NWT) was within the Kendall Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

In 1980 the Eskimo Curlew was proclaimed an Endangered Species in Canada, i.e., an indigenous species of fauna or flora whose existence in Canada is threatened with immediate extinction through all or a significant portion of its range, owing to the action of man (Fraser 1980). It had received a similar designation in the United States in 1967 (U.S. Department of the Interior 1986). Such a listing helps educate the public and thus adds to the possibility of protecting the Eskimo Curlew.

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