USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS

"Among the many joyous bird notes which greet one while crossing these grounds...none seemed more familiar or pleasanter than the prolonged mellow whistle of the Esquimaux Curlew" (MacFarlane 1891).

Fall migration

"They flew in that peculiar manner which distinguishes the curlews from all other birds in flight, a sort of wedge shape, the sides of which were constantly swaying back and forth like a cloud of smoke wafted by the lightest zepher [sic]... Long, dangling lines, either perpendicular or horizontal, the lower parts of which whirl, rise, or twist spirally, while the apex of the flock is seemingly at rest" (Turner in Bent 1962).

Fall hunting

"Of course, the shooting begins first at the North, but the rapidity with which the birds make their flight causes the first guns to be echoed along the coast, even to the far South, in quick succession" (Hapgood 1887).

Winter

"After leaving Azul for Bahia Blanca [Argentina] it was seen almost daily on the pampas in company with the Golden Plover and Bartram's Sandpiper until late in February" (Barrows 1884).

Winter hunting

The "birds were offered for sale in the markets of Buenos Aires and were included on the bills of fare in the principal restaurants" (Wetmore 1927b).

Spring migration

"The birds would arrive about the time the later willows began to bloom, being present in force for a week or 10 days only, for by the time all of the wild plum blossoms had fallen the birds were gone" (Bruner in Swenk 1916).

Spring hunting

Of two curlews shot 22 March: "Both females, with well-developed ovaries" (Swenk 1916).

The future?

"As it left, the curlew gave a call...It flew to the southeast and disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean" (L.E. Williams in Weston and Williams 1965).