Are there still any Eskimo Curlews? (4 Viewers)

[Doug Greenberg]

About sixteen years ago I went to Churchill, Manitoba, as an assistant leader of a group birding expedition. While there, we were told by one of the resident birders (it was a woman whose name I cannot recall) that Canadian Fish and Wildlife knew the location of some nesting Eskimo curlews. Therefore, this species, although at the brink of extinction, definitely still existed. Of course, the government scientists would not reveal the particulars of this location so as to protect the birds.

Subsequently, the North American Rare Bird Alert issued a t-shirt that depicted an Eskimo curlew and read, "The Eskimo Curlew Lives!" I still have one of these t-shirts.

My question for Canadian birders is whether this information was to your knowledge accurate, or was it just rumor, etc.? And if the curlews were indeed still alive back in the late eighties, does anyone know whether they have avoided extinction to this day? I know that no one has reported seeing any in migration for quite some time.

 

[Edward woodwood]

Hi Doug

no confirmed world recs since 1939 (South america)

there have been a few unconfirmed reports from late 80s to mid 90s but none since. BirdLife International suggest a population (if there is one!) of 25-100 birds.

 

[Doug Greenberg]

Hi Doug

no confirmed world recs since 1939 (South america)

there have been a few unconfirmed reports from late 80s to mid 90s but none since. BirdLife International suggest a population (if there is one!) of 25-100 birds.

Just for the sake of complete information, here's a web page that shows photos taken of an Eskimo curlew on Galveston Island in Texas in 1962;

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/curlew/identif.htm#fig2

This evidence is pretty convincing (to me, anyway) that this sighting was valid.

 

[Doug Greenberg]

Actually, this long USGS web site devoted to the Eskimo curlew is quite informative. It includes the following list of curlew sightings since 1945. Of course, there is no way of knowing how many of these sightings, save the one that included photographs, are valid.


http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/curlew/current.htm

 

[Steve]

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=11356

 

[alcedo.atthis]

Eskimo Curlew

I actually wonder, in the today's light of political correctness, if the powers that be, who are into changing bird names, for one reason or another, will re-name this bird "Inuit" or "Yuit" Curlew??
After all, they have changed some of the names for some rather spurious reasons.

Malky @ Westhill

 

[Glen Tepke]

Several months ago I attended a presentation on shorebird conservation by a biologist doing research on shorebirds in Alaska and arctic Canada for the Manomet Bird Observatory (a research and conservation organization based in Massachusetts). I asked the biologist about Eskimo Curlew and he said that he knew all of the Canadian Fish & Wildlife people who would be in a position to know, and that the rumor about the secret breedling location was a myth.

On the other hand, an experienced and knowledgeable birder made a detailed report of seeing an Eskimo Curlew on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts in August 2002. The sighting was not accepted by state rare birds record committee because there was no supporting evidence, i.e., photo, specimen or reports by other experienced observers, and they felt that a report of a species presumed extinct needed more support. Some committee members also felt that Little Curlew could not be ruled out.

Glen

 

[Carson]

The species is conspicuously absent from David Sibley's Guide to Birds. Not a single word is mentioned.

However, in his Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, there is considerable mention made. That source, published in 2001, accepts the Texas 1962 and the Barbados 1963 records as the last confirmed, and goes on to rate the curlew as "probably now extinct as a result of overhunting and habitat conversion."

[I'm not sure that such extreme politeness really is more effective than extreme outrage.]

The same source is willing to posit this much hope, however: "Two unconfirmed sightings in Canada's Prairie Provinces in 1996 give faint hope that the species persists."

I'm familiar with birds and birding on the Canadian prairies, and I would hold on very tightly to that bit of hope. It is possible the species is still extant.

Not that humans are generally deserving that it might be.

 

[rrdrouin]

Hello Doug. I am a journalist working on a story about the Eskimo Curlew. Is there anyway you can contact me via e-mail at rrdrouin AT yahoo.com. If there is anyone else with knowledge of this fascinating bird, it would be helpful if I could speak with you (a brief interview). Thanks so much.
Roger Real Drouin
www.rogerdrouin.com

 

[Reuven_M]

Hello Doug. I am a journalist working on a story about the Eskimo Curlew. Is there anyway you can contact me via e-mail at rrdrouin AT yahoo.com. If there is anyone else with knowledge of this fascinating bird, it would be helpful if I could speak with you (a brief interview). Thanks so much.
Roger Real Drouin
www.rogerdrouin.com

This thread is six years old, and Doug hasn't been on since spetember 2008...

 

[GrandNagus50]

Hello Doug. I am a journalist working on a story about the Eskimo Curlew. Is there anyway you can contact me via e-mail at rrdrouin AT yahoo.com. If there is anyone else with knowledge of this fascinating bird, it would be helpful if I could speak with you (a brief interview). Thanks so much.
Roger Real Drouin
www.rogerdrouin.com

 

[GrandNagus50]

Fourteen years later, I reply! I actually left BirdForum in 2008 because of what I thought was ridiculous treatment by one of the "powers that be." I will spare everyone the details, which are now ancient history.

The reason I am typing this now in May 2024 is that I will in a month be returning to Churchill, 38 years after my last trip there. I do not expect to encounter any Eskimo curlews (changing the name seems moot at this point), and I guess in my dotage I am now less prone to believe rumors regarding the persistence of extinct or near-extinct species. I still own the "The Eskimo Curlew Lives" t shirt, however, and I might just pull it out of its storage bag and bring it along on the trip as a "conversation starter."

I will add that I would not have had any credible information to provide Roger Drouin for his piece on the Eskimo curlew. In the opening post in this thread I provided all the information I had at that time, which very likely was not based on anything provable.