Species: Numenius americanus
Long-billed Curlew
Species
Show on Lists
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Charadriiformes
Family
Scolopacidae
Genus
Numenius
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Zarapito Pico Largo - courlis à long bec
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Shorebirds
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Charadriiformes - Scolopacidae - Numenius - (AOU 1998).
Ecology and Life History
Migration
false - false - true - Most depart northern part of breeding range by early August. Arrives in northernmost breeding areas mostly in April (De Smet 1992).
Non-migrant
false
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Fairly opportunistic. Feeds on various insects (grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, etc.). Eats some berries. During migration also feeds on crayfishes, crabs, snails, and toads. Grasshoppers and carabid beetles are dominant in the chick diet in Idaho (Redmond and Jenni 1985). May obtain insect larvae by probing into loose soil (Allen 1980). Predation on nestling birds has been observed. Picks food from ground or water, probes with bill in sand or mud in or near shallow water, plucks berries.
Reproduction Comments
Egg laying begins in April in Washington, by early May in Saskatchewan. Clutch size is 3-5 (usually 4); eggs are laid over 4-7 days. Incubation lasts 28-30 days, by both sexes (Redmond and Jenni 1986). Nestlings are precocial. Young are tended by both parents, brooded at night for several days after hatching. Females usually depart when young are 2-3 weeks old; males tend young until fledging at 41-45 days. Age of first breeding probably is 2-3 years for females, 3-4 years for males. One brood per year. Does not renest if clutch is lost. Fledging success is greater for early nesters (Redmond and Jenni 1986). Annual productivity is low. See Allen (1980) for details on nesting and brooding behavior. Often nests in loose colonies. Reported breeding density up to one pair per 24 ha; sometimes only one pair per several hundred ha. Breeding density was about 5-7 males per 100 ha in Idaho (Redmond and Jenni 1986), 1 pair per 6-7 sq km in Saskatchewan, up to 15 territories in 10.4 sq km in Washington (Allen 1980), 0-9 nests per ha in Oregon (Pampush and Anthony 1993), 0.64-2.36 males per sq km in northern Utah (Paton and Dalton 1994). In Oregon, nest success was 0.65-0.69 (Pampush and Anthony 1993). In Utah, 2 of 10 monitored nests were successful (Paton and Dalton 1994).
Length
58
Weight
642
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-25
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-25
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S3&CA.BC=S3&CA.MB=SX&CA.SK=S3&US.AL=__&US.AZ=S1&US.CA=S2&US.CO=S2&US.FL=__&US.GA=S3&US.ID=S2&US.IL=SX&US.IA=SX&US.KS=S1&US.LA=__&US.MN=SX&US.MS=__&US.MT=S3&US.NN=__&US.NE=S5&US.NV=S2&US.NM=S3&US.NC=__&US.ND=S2&US.OK=S2&US.OR=S3&US.SC=__&US.SD=S3&US.TX=S3&US.UT=S2&US.WA=S2&US.WI=SX&US.WY=S3" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDING: southern British Columbia, southern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba south to eastern Washington, northeastern California, Nevada, Utah, southern Colorado, New Mexico, and northern Texas east to southwestern Kansas. Probably extirpated in southern Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan (De Smet 1992). NON-BREEDING: central California, southern Arizona (rarely), extreme northern Mexico, southern Texas, southern Louisiana, coastal South Carolina south to southern Mexico (Oaxaca, Veracruz, Yucatan Peninsula) and northern Gulf Coast east to Florida, irregularly to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Venezuela. See De Smet (1992) for further details.
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)