Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Eskimo Curlew
A vanishing species?

by
J.B. Gollop, T.W. Barry and E.H. Iversen
1986
published by
Nature Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan Natural History Society
Room 206, 1860 Lorne St.
Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 2L7
"The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived,
though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may
yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of
living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass
before such a one can be again."
-- William Beebe, 1906
Nature Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan Natural History Society
Room 206, 1860 Lorne St.
Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 2L7
Phone: (306) 780-9273 Fax: (306) 780-9263
Special Publications of the Saskatchewan Natural
History Society (Nature Saskatchewan).
This resource is based on the following source:
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. 160pp.
This resource should be cited as:
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.
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/curlew/index.htm
(Version 16JUL97).
Table of Contents
- Foreword
- Dedication
- Glimpses of the Eskimo Curlew
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Current Status
- Field Identification
- A Curlew By Many Other Names
- Two Nest Searches for the Eskimo Curlew -- A Century
Apart
- Life History -- Briefly Stated
- The Eskimo Curlew's Year
-
| Breeding |
| Northwest Territories |
| Fall Migration in northern North America |
| Siberia, USSR |
Alaska (also spring) |
Ungava, Quebec |
Labrador, Newfoundland |
Southern Quebec |
| New Brunswick |
Prince Edward Island |
Nova Scotia |
Manitoba (also spring) |
Ontario |
| Fall Migration in southern North
America |
| Maine |
Massachusetts |
Rhode Island |
Connecticut |
Michigan |
| Ohio |
Pennsylvania |
New York |
New Jersey |
Maryland |
| Carolinas |
North Carolina |
South Carolina |
Georgia |
Florida |
| Introduction to Oceanic Migration |
| Oceanic Migration |
| Bermuda |
San Salvador Island |
Turks Islands |
Puerto Rico |
Guadeloupe |
| Martinique |
St. Vincent |
Barbados |
Carriacou (Grendadines) |
Grenada |
| Trinidad & Tobago |
Guyanas |
British Guiana |
Brazil |
Peru |
| Bolivia |
Paraguay |
|
|
|
| Winter |
| Chile |
Uruguay |
Argentina |
Falkland Islands |
|
| Spring Migration (South) |
| Galapagos Islands |
Costa Rica |
Guatemala |
Mexico |
New Mexico |
| Texas |
Mississippi River Valley |
Louisiana Mississippi |
Arkansas |
Oklahoma |
| Colorado |
Kansas |
Missouri |
Missouri River Drainage |
Argentina Falkland Islands |
| Spring Migration (North) |
| Illinois |
Indiana |
Nebraska |
Iowa |
Wyoming |
| South Dakota |
Minnesota Wisconsin |
Montana |
North Dakota |
Manitoba |
| Saskatchewan |
Alberta |
Alaska (see fall) |
California |
|
| North Atlantic Stragglers |
| Greenland |
Iceland |
Ireland |
Great Britain |
|
- "Last of the Curlews"
- Appendix 1 -- A summary of R.R. MacFarlanes's
specimen notes on Eskimo Curlews collected near the Anderson River, Northwest
Territories, 1862-1866
- Appendix 2 -- Records of Eskimo Curlews on the
Labrador coast, 1770-1786, from George Cartwright's diary
- Appendix 3 -- Excerpts on curlews from "The
Sportsman's Gazetteer and General Guide" by Charles Hallock, 1877
- Appendix 4 -- Current common names of birds
referred to in the text
- Appendix 5 -- Scientific names of birds referred
to in the text, based on the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list 1983
- Bibliography A-L
- Bibliography M-Z
- List of Maps
- Map 1 -- Northwest Territories, showing
probable breeding area of Eskimo Curlew.
- Map 2 -- Anderson River-Franklin Bay area,
showing MacFarlane's overland collecting route.
- Map 3 -- North America showing migration routes,
monthly distribution and breeding range of the Eskimo Curlew. Inset: 1915
map of Eskimo Curlew range (Cooke 1915b).
- Map 4 -- South America showing monthly
distribution of Eskimo Curlew reports and potential wintering area.
- Map 5 -- Range of crowberry, Empetrum
nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum, in North America.
- Map 6 -- Some Eskimo Curlew locations on the
Labrador coast, mainly those of George Cartwright, 1770-1786.
- List of Figures
- Figure 1 -- Reproduction of MacFarlane's
specimen note for Item #1800.
- Figure 2 -- Eskimo Curlew, Galveston Island,
Texas, 1962. Photo.
- Figure 3 -- Another Eskimo Curlew, Galveston
Island, Texas, 1962. Note differences in the bill. Photo
- Figure 4 -- Little Curlew near Santa Maria,
California, 6 October 1984. Photo.
- Figure 5 -- Whimbrel near Churchill, Manitoba.
Photo.
- Figure 6 -- Side views of Eskimo Curlew
and Whimbrel. Front views of Eskimo Curlew, Little Curlew and Whimbrel.
Drawing.
- Figure 7 -- Eskimo Curlew and Whimbrel
in flight from below. Drawing
- Figure 8 -- Legs of Little Curlew (left)
and Eskimo Curlew (right). Whimbrel like Little Curlew (Seebohm 1888). Drawing.
- Figure 9 -- Clearing on the east bank of
the Anderson River where Fort Anderson stood, 1861-1866. Photo.
- Figure 10 -- Lac Rendez-vous, where "lowland"
route from south met "upland" route. Trail east to Franklin Bay started
at point on left of photo.
- Figure 11 -- Franklin Bay (left)
- Figure 12 -- Horton River ar junction of
West River. Photo.
- Figure 13 -- Eskimo Curlew habitat on grass,
sedge and dryas "barrens" between Swan River and the Smoking Hills. Photo.
- Figure 14 -- Single Eggs of, from left
to right, Eskimo Curlew, Whimbrel and Long-billed Curlew. The label for
the Eskimo Curlew egg indicates that it is one of two collected on 23 June
1863--apparently a transcribing error because MacFarlane gave no such data.
Photo.
- Figure 15 -- Eskimo Curlew feeding habitat
hear Cartwright, Labrador. Photo.
- Figure 16 -- Two 19th-century Massachusetts
shorebird decoys from the collection of Ron Swanson. Red Knot in front of
Eskimo Curlew. Photo.
- Figure 17 -- Mud flats near Rio de la Plata,
near La Plata, Argentina. Photo.
- Figure 18 -- Pampas in southern Argentina.
Photo.
- Figure 19 -- Pasture on Galveston Island,
Texas. Photo.
- Figure 20 -- Frame from television special,
"Last of the Curlews." Hanna-Barbera Productions.
- Figure 21 -- Habitat near the collection
site of Specimen #1800: "10 miles west of Rendezvous Lake...". Photo
- Figure 22 -- Habitat near the colletion
site of Specimen #1810: "found in a barren plain NE of this lake." Photo.
- Figure 23 -- Carwright Harbour, Labrador,
in foreground; Curlew Hill, highest hill, center, behind settlement. Photo.
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