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- Numenius arquata
Identification
Distribution
A widespread and generally common bird in the Western Palearctic. Breeds in the British Isles (except east and south-east England), discontinuously from France east to Poland, throughout coastal and lowland Scandinavia, the Baltic States and across Russia between about 48 and 64 degrees N. Southern limits are the Pyrenees, Alps and the Black Sea.
Resident in Ireland, parts of coastal Britain, Brittany, coastal Netherlands and south-west Sweden. Elsewhere a summer visitor, present April-August. In winter found in southern Iceland, throughout the British Isles and much of western and southern Europe, Turkey and North Africa. Has bred in Spain and occasionally does so elsewhere out of main range including very small numbers in Italy.
Vagrant north to Jan Mayen, Bear Island and south to Canaries, Azores and Cape Verde Islands.
Taxonomy
Subspecies1
- N. a. arquata - breeds British Isles to Ural Mts.; winters to nw Africa and India
- N. a. orientalis - breeds E Russia, Manchuria; winters to Africa, SE Asia and Indonesia
Habitat
Breeds in wet grassland and meadows, drier parts of marshes, farmland, heaths and moorland. In winter mainly coastal, on estuaries and sandy shores, saltmarshes, on coastal grasslands and to a lesser extent, on inland wetlands.
Behaviour
Vocalisation
<flashmp3>Numenius arquata (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
References
- Clements, James F. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2007. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801445019