Eskimo Curlew

A vanishing species?

The Eskimo Curlew's Year

North Atlantic Stragglers

NORTH ATLANTIC STRAGGLERS: There is evidence that 13 Eskimo Curlews have been at various times carried by autumn storms to Greenland, Iceland, Ireland and Great Britain (Map 3).

GREENLAND

Specimens: 4

STATUS: Accidental.

Hahn (1963:188) lists four specimens, none dated. Reinhardt (1861:10) states that "one of them was brought from Greenland in 1858, and is said to have been shot at Julianchaab [ Julianehaab; 61°+/-N]."

OTHER LOCALITY: Disco (Disko) Bay (69°N+/-; Cooke 1910:75).

ICELAND
STATUS: Hypothetical.
Ridgway (1919:413) lists Iceland based on a report by Kjaerbolling, published in 1854 (which we have not seen).

IRELAND
Specimens: 1
STATUS: Accidental.
"On the 21st of October last [1870] Mr. W.R. Duff...saw in Mr. M'Ardles' shop, in William Street, Dublin, an Esquimaux curlew....The bird remained till the 25th of the same month exposed for sale, when... Mr. Duff tells me sixpence purchased it" (BlakeKnox 1870:2408-2409).

GREAT BRITAIN
Specimens:6
STATUS: Accidental in fall.
Witherby et al. (1943:177) list six specimens and one questionable report:

6 September 1855 Kincardine
7 September 1879 Kent (Questioned)
10 September 1887 Scilly Islands
21 September 1880 Kincardine
28 September 1878 Aberdeen
November 1852 Suffolk
Prior to 1870 Suffolk

All were for single birds except for the November record of two.

Concerning the 1855 bird: "I was standing...at the top of a hill on the 'muir' [moor]....l looked and saw a bird walking slowly about, just as a Plover would do. .It seemed very much disinclined to rise from the ground; and allowed me to get within twenty yards of it....[The] specimen...was so plump, that, to use the homely expression of the bird-stuffer, 'the very oil was running out of it' " (Longmuir 1885:265-266).

The 1878 specimen "was a male, weighing eight ounces. ..The stomach contained crowberries, some flies, and a caterpillar" (Harting 1879:135). The stragglers were able to find habitat and food similar to what they used in part of North America.

Previous Section -- Spring Migration (North)
Return to Contents
Next Section -- "Last of the Curlews"