Species

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Justification
This species has not been recorded with certainty since 1963 (and none have been confirmed on the wintering grounds since 1939). It was formerly abundant, but declined rapidly over a century ago as a result of hunting and habitat loss. However, it cannot yet be presumed to be Extinct until all potential breeding areas have been surveyed, and the series of occasional unconfirmed reports ceases. Any remaining population is likely to be tiny, and for these reasons it is treated as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct).

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of _the_WP15.xls.
AOU. 1998. Check-list of North American birds. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
Cramp, S.; Perrins, C. M. 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
SACC. 2006. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.html.
Sibley, C. G.; Monroe, B. L. 1990. Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven, USA.
Stotz, D. F.; Fitzpatrick, J. W.; Parker, T. A.; Moskovits, D. K. 1996. Neotropical birds: ecology and conservation. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Identification
29-34 cm. Small cinnamon-coloured curlew. Similar spp. Little Curlew N. minutus is similar, but N. borealis is larger, longer winged (extending beyond tip of tail), shorter legged, cinnamon not buffish below with heavily barred breast and "Y" shaped marks on flanks. Small size (25% smaller than Whimbrel N. phaeopus) eliminates all other species. Voice Flight call reportedly a rippling tr-tr-tr and a soft whistle bee bee.

Distribution and population
Numenius borealis bred at (and presumably between) the Bathurst peninsula and Point Lake in Northwest Territories, Canada (Gill et al. 1998), and perhaps also Alaska, USA. Birds migrated across Hudson Bay to Labrador (and New England, USA), and through the Caribbean to Argentina (especially the Pampas), and possibly Uruguay, Paraguay (R. Clay in litt. 2003), southernmost Brazil and Chile south to Patagonia (Gill et al. 1998). The return migration was probably along the Pacific coast, through Central America, across the Gulf of Mexico to the Texas coast and northwards through the prairies. It probably numbered hundreds of thousands, but declined rapidly in the 1870s-1890s to become very rare in the 20th century (Gill et al. 1998, Graves 2010). The last irrefutable record was of a specimen collected in Barbados in 1963 (Roberts et al. 2010). Since then there have been no confirmed records (none from the wintering grounds in South America since 1939), only several unconfirmed reports during 1981-2006 (Gill et al. 1998, M. Parr in litt. 2003, C. L. Gratto-Trevor in litt. 2004, R. Hoffman in litt. 2006, N. Crockford in litt. 2008). The population (if one persists) must be tiny (Gill et al. 1998).

Population justification
Any remaining population is assumed to be tiny (numbering fewer than 50 individuals and mature individuals), as there have been no confirmed sightings since the early 1980s.

Ecology
It bred (May-August) in treeless arctic tundra at 180-335 m, comprising grassy meadows with birch (Betula) and sedge (Carex) (Gill et al. 1998). On autumn migration (July-October), it favoured ericaceous heath, crowberries Empetrum nigrum, pastures and intertidal flats (Gill et al. 1998). Winter habitat was possibly wet pampas grasslands, intertidal and semi-desert areas (Gill et al. 1998). On return migration (March-May), it favoured burnt areas in tall grass and mixed-grass prairies, and rocky mountain grasshopper Melanoplus spretus was a key food source (Gill et al. 1998). It was gregarious, with traditional autumn migration sites (Gill et al. 1998).

Threats
Large-scale spring hunting in North America partially explains the species's near-extinction, but there was no recovery after hunting was outlawed and abandoned in c.1916 (Gill et al. 1998). The main cause is almost certainly the near total loss of prairies to agriculture, compounded by the suppression of prairie wildfires and the extinction of M. spretus (Gill et al. 1998). The widespread conversion of the pampas began after the main decline, but has hindered any possible recovery (Gill et al. 1998).

Conservation actions underway
CITES Appendix I. CMS Appendix I and II. It is protected in the USA, Canada, Argentina and Mexico. Its status has been fully documented, and identification details publicised (Gill et al. 1998). Breeding and wintering areas have been surveyed, and reported breeding sites investigated (Blanco et al. 1993, Gill et al. 1998, C. L. Gratto-Trevor in litt. 1999). An Environment Canada species recovery plan recommends that no recovery action be undertaken other than continued monitoring of reported sightings (Environment Canada 2007).

Conservation actions proposed
Continue cooperative international assessments of historical sites (Blanco et al. 1993, C. L. Gratto-Trevor in litt. 1999). Survey heath tundra along the Labrador coast during August-September and historic breeding grounds prior to the initiation of development projects (C. L. Gratto-Trevor in litt. 1999). Investigate any credible sightings (C. L. Gratto-Trevor in litt. 1999). Expand prairie habitat, and employ prescribed burnings (C. L. Gratto-Trevor in litt. 1999).

References
Blanco, D.; Banchs, R.; Canevari, P. 1993. Critical sites for the Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis), and other Nearctic grassland shorebirds in Argentina and Uruguay.

Gill, R. E.; Canevari, P.; Iversen, E. H. 1998. Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis). In: Poole, A.; Gill, F. (ed.), The birds of North America, No. 347, pp. 1-28. The Academy of Natural Sciences and The American Ornithologists' Union, Philadelphia and Washington DC.

Environment Canada. 2007. Recovery Strategy for the Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis) in Canada. Environment Canada, Ottawa.

Roberts, D. L.; Elphick, C. S.; Reed, J. M. 2010. Identifying anomalous reports of putatively extinct species and why it matters. Conservation Biology 24(1): 189-196.

Further web sources of information
Audubon WatchList

View photos and videos, and hear sounds of this species from the Internet Bird Collection

Text account compilers
Benstead, P., Bird, J., Butchart, S., Clay, R., Isherwood, I., Pilgrim, J., Sharpe, C J, Symes, A., Wege, D.

Contributors
Clay, R., Crockford, N., Gill, R., Gratto-Trevor, C., Hoffman, R., Parr, M.

IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Numenius borealis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 21/05/2013. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 21/05/2013.

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife

To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums.

Additional resources for this species

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