Eskimo Curlew (1 Viewer)

USFWS initiates 5-year status review: Reuters, Federal Register 76(120): 36491-36493.

[With thanks to A DC Birding Blog and Nate Swick, The ABA Birding Blog.]

BLI/IUCN Red List status CR(PE) - Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct):
www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3008

Sadly I see little hope for this species. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I think this one is gone for good.

Passenger Pigeon of the Plains. Between overhunting on migration and the extinction of the Rocky Mountain Locust, we managed to knock out yet another common bird.

On the other hand, decades passed between previous certain sightings. Evidently Eskimo Curlew, is not just very rare, but also can exist for years without being reported. Who is there to say that when the last observation happened (say) 20 years after the last-but-one observation, the next one cannot happen (say) 30 years later again?

I wonder if Eskimo Curlew could have leapfrog migration strategy similar to Bar-tailed Godwit. That is, birds either stop on migration or fly non-stop for 1000's of km. Remaining tiny population could escape hunting by overflying non-stop lower 48 states. Both breeding and wintering areas are vast and little surveyed.

I also wonder, how difficult is to prove a sighting into "irrefutable" or "certain" now? How many observers don't submit their observations wishing not to distrub the species, for fear of being rejected, or their records were not believed?

Valid points, and that's why I still have a sliver of hope. It should be noted, though, that the Eskimo Curlew was historically known for staging on rivers in the Central Flyway. Of course, if any individuals were able to follow a different strategy, that would have allowed them to better survive the disappearance of a crucial resource (Rocky Mountain Locust eggs).