European Robin American Robin At this time of year, European Robins, a species commonly called robin or robin redbreast in the UK, are a familiar sight on Christmas cards in England. The practice began during Queen Victoria times in the mid-18th century when the …
Sandhill Cranes During early October this year, I visited the Cosumnes River Preserve, south of Sacramento, to glimpse flocks of Sandhill Cranes flying high in the sky, having just arrived to winter in their thousands among the fields, marshes, and wetlands of the Central Valley …
Many years ago, I was required to persuade my fellow birdwatchers that I had spotted a pair of Shore Larks on a beach just north of the Warren at Spurn Point, Yorkshire, England, to have the sighting recorded in the Bird Observatory’s daily log. What made the task difficult was that the presence of a Shore Lark in this neighborhood was unusual, the encounter demanded that I supply a detailed justification, and that as a teenager, I had never done this before. Nonetheless, I was successful with my presentation.
Today there are fewer sightings of Shore Larks in Britain than during the 1960s, and according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, only around 100 Shore Larks arrive to winter each year in the UK. These birds appear along the east coast of England during October to March, traveling south from their breeding grounds. They usually spend summer in Scandinavia and the far north of Eurasia, migrating in search of new sources of food and to avoid the cold weather. Typically they appear along sea-shores and on salt marshes. Those breeding in the mountains of south-east Europe and southern Asia tend to remain there year-round.
Shore Lark: Global Range Map – orange breeding; purple year-round; blue non-breeding
Contrast this with my experiences today in California as I fulfill my docent responsibilities to protect the nesting Snowy Plovers on Surf Beach, close to the Vandenberg Space Force Base. During my visits, I have seen close to the above annual number of UK birds that look similar to the ones at Spurn Point, either undulating in flight in small flocks, or erratically walking and running among the dunes foraging for food. The distinction is that in North America these birds are called Horned Larks, and are the only lark that is native to North America.In Europe, there are several other native species such as the Skylark, Crested Lark, and Wood Lark. The Shore Lark probably spread to the New World around 600,000 years ago. Today many are resident in North America year-round, and are joined during winter by Horned Larks from the north and from mountainous areas. Birds belonging to this species return to their birthplace each summer, a characteristic known as philopatry.
Horned Lark: North America Range Map
Horned Larks breed throughout North America, choosing open ground or habitats possessing short vegetation. They construct grass-lined, cup-shaped nests in depressions on the ground, laying a clutch of three to five eggs. Their scientific name translates as “desert lover of the high mountains”.
Horned Lark breeding
There is also a species known as Meadowlark in North America but these birds belong the blackbird, not lark family. Also, efforts in the past to introduce the Eurasian Skylark into North America have usually failed, although a small population survives today on Vancouver Island, and vagrants from Asia are occasionally seen in Alaska.
North American Western Meadowlark
Eurasian Skylark
This species with two names enjoys one of the largest worldwide ranges of any songbird, and has an estimated global breeding population of 140 million, with 97 million in North America. The species is usually classified as of “Least Concern” from a conservation point-of-view. However, in North America, its numbers have declined by an estimated two thirds since 1970, in part due to pesticides, as well as caused by loss of habitat. In western North America, Horned Larks are one of the species most often killed by wind turbines although, as the chart below illustrates, this cause of death among birds is minor compared with other means of fatality. In the UK, the Shore Lark is on the Amber (Watch) List of birds due to habitat loss caused by changes in agricultural practices and urbanization.
Wind Turbine Deaths: It Happens!!
The Shore Lark is easily distinguished from other Old World larks by its pale yellow throat, the yellow on its face, and a black breast-band and cheeks. It is pinkish brown above and whitish below. Males have a small black band across their crown and small black feather tufts, only visible at short range, that are horn-like (two pointed black feathers jutting out backwards on either side of the crown). Males are slightly larger and darker than females and their “horns” are more prominent. The same description applies to New World Horned Larks.
Horned Lark or Shore Lark?
As for the most appropriate name for this species, the North American term seems most suited since it refers to the bird’s obvious feature of “horns”. Also, only in certain parts of Europe does the species migrate to coastal habitats during winter that justifies the name of “Shore Lark”. Personally I am satisfied with either name, and I am delighted that my volunteering at Surf Beach has reconnected me with a species that caused me so much excitement many years ago. However, whether this species continues as a winter visitor to the UK remains uncertain. Global warming will impact mountain and high altitude upland regions as the tree line advances upwards, potentially pushing the habitat of these birds further north.
I was first introduced to Northern Wheatears at the end of March 1961 during a school geology fieldtrip to Stainforth in Ribblesdale, Yorkshire, England. A small group of us were studying the area’s Carboniferous Limestone and Millstone Grit and searching for fossils in the older …
California Quail – male and female Admired by many, the California Quail, about the size of a pigeon, is a hardy and adaptable ground-dwelling game bird that was originally resident in the United States from Southern Oregon south into Baja California, but has extended its …
According to research, birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. Jennifer Ackerman in her book The Genius of Birds dismisses the belief that idioms such as “bird brain”, “eating crow”, “cuckoo”, and “feather brain” have anything to do with a true understanding of the brain structure of birds, and my early experiences as a bird watcher confirm her belief. One of my first memories of unusual bird behavior is at Spurn Point in Yorkshire when two partridges flew over the Warren. The female hit the overhead electric wires and decapitated herself, and the male landed and called out for her for at least 30 minutes. Further details of my adolescent bird watching are in my novel She Wore a Yellow Dress.
There are many other illustrations of bird intelligence that I could give you from my experiences but I want this article to focus on the more bizarre aspects of bird behavior. Examples of strange conduct I have used in previous blogs include birds feigning injury, shrikes impaling prey on thorns before eating their victims, fulmars spitting foul liquid at anything that threatens their nest, and the parasitic behavior of Eurasian cuckoos and brown-headed cowbirds.
Great Indian hornbill
Let us start with Indian hornbills.There are nine species in India, so how about choosing the largest one, 40 to 48 inches long (100 to 120 cm), the great Indian hornbill. It is native to the tropical rain forests on the Indian subcontinent and in south-east Asia, and like all hornbills, has a huge casque on top of its massive bill. The casque is hollow and serves no known purpose, but for this article the species uniqueness lies in something quite different.
Great Indian hornbill nest
The female builds a nest after entering the hollow of a large tree and then seals the entrance while she is still inside so that she can no longer leave. She uses dung and pellets. The male supplies the pellets of mud from the forest floor; first he swallows the material and later regurgitates it as saliva-covered nesting matter for the female to use. During the next 8 to 10 weeks the male feeds the female through the nest slit as she molts, the eggs hatch, and the chicks become half-developed.
Red-breasted nuthatch
Another example of unusual bird behavior involves the red-breasted nuthatch, a resident and native to most of Canada and the United States. It is a small compact bird with a very short tail, and like the hornbill, nests in holes in trees. After building the nest, it will spread a coating of conifer resin at the entrance to the hole, sometimes applying it with a piece of bark, for the purpose of preventing other birds, like wrens and woodpeckers, from using the space.
Red-breasted nuthatch Range Map
Should you happen to be in New Guinea, look out for a bird that is poisonous, known as the hooded pitohui. It is a small black and orange bird with powerful bill and dark red eyes that inhabits the hills and low mountains of the islands of Papua New Guinea.The poison is in its feathers and skin. Apparently, along with the fruit and seeds that they eat, these birds are also partial to invertebrates such as the small melyrid beetle. It is this creature that provides them with the poison, known as batrachotoxin. In humans, in small doses, it can cause tingling and numbing, but in large quantities it may lead to paralysis, cardiac arrest, and death. Local people leave the bird alone, call it the “rubbish bird”, and consider it inedible. Snakes that eat its eggs may become sick because of the poison the female wipes onto her clutch of eggs.
Hooded pitohui
Across the globe, in the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America, lives a bird known as the hoatzin (pronounced wat-sin), and sometimes called the reptile bird, skunk bird, or stinkbird. It is pheasant-sized, with a long neck and small head, and feeds on leaves and fruit. It has no known close relatives among the bird world, but like some dinosaurs, Hoatzin chicks are born with two claws on each wing that survive for the first three months of their lives and are used for climbing and balance.
Hoatzin chick
The hoatzin’s digestive system is unique among birds. It employs bacterial fermentation in the front part of its gut to break down vegetable material, much like cattle do. However, this process causes the bird to produce a highly disagreeable, manure-like odor. While indigenous people sometimes collect its eggs, it is rare that they hunt the bird because they consider its meat to be undesirable. The hoatzin is fairly common in its range today because it inhabits mangrove swamps and riverine forest.
Hoatzin adult
Last but not least, let me introduce you to the Eurasian wryneck, a member of the woodpecker family that pretends to be a snake when threatened. In my early birdwatching days it was a summer resident in the UK, from March to mid-July, breeding chiefly in southern England and occasionally in Wales. Today it is only a passage bird with less than 300 sightings in Britain annually.
It is sparrow-sized and feeds on ants, and like the hornbill and nuthatch, nests in holes in trees.When threatened, it has the ability to turn its head 180 degrees, twist its neck, and hiss like a snake, and is nick-named snake bird because of this behavior. It has often been linked to witchcraft, curses, and evil spells. Using its Latin name of Jynx torquilla, it is supposed to “jinx” people (i.e. bring them bad luck).
Eurasian wryneck
Eurasian wryneck Range Map: orange – summer; blue – winter; green – all year
As you might expect, none of these unusual birds are particularly threatened at the moment, either by global warming or human interventions.
Canada geese breeding season is underway at my golf course, and my erratic golf shots risk the lives of these birds as they eat, mate, and nest nearby. Their population seems to increase each year. Their eggs have hatched and the baby goslings, dressed in …
As my daughter leaves for a vacation on the Shetland Islands, I am featuring the long-time persecuted family of cormorants on my bird blog for this month. The Shetland Islands are a birders paradise, and both the sleek great cormorant (simply called the cormorant in …
I have volunteered to assist with the protection of the Western snowy plover during their California coastal breeding season this year from March to September. The following is published to coincide with my training as a docent.
This small shorebird is approximately the size of a sparrow, weighs less than two ounces (55 grams), and is about six inches (15 cm) in length. It makes its home on flat, unraked sandy beaches, dry mud or salt flats along the Pacific Coast and estuaries, from Washington State through Oregon, and onto California and into southern Baja California, Mexico. Formerly, the Western snowy plover nested on a large part of this shoreline but today these birds are rarely seen. Prior to the 1970s, it is reported that at least 53 California locations were homes to these plovers, but a few years later that number had halved. Today the Pacific coast population is estimated to be around 2,500, with most of California’s coastal breeding birds found south of San Francisco. The bird’s conservation status was raised to Endangered in March 1993, and probably less than 1000 breeding plovers occupied the West Coast by the year 2000. This number is now increasing. There are also snowy plovers that breed in interior California, south-central Oregon, Nevada, and several other western states, and some of these winter along the West Coast.
Distribution of snowy plovers
The right-hand side of the above range map illustrates the distribution of the Western snowy plover on the West Coast. It is this subspecies that has received most conservation attention. Snowy plovers east of the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Rockies appear less threatened, and populate the Great Basin, parts of Texas, the Central Plains, much of the Gulf coast, the Bahaman islands, and in Central Mexico. Most of these birds are thought to belong to separate subspecies from the Western snowy plover. Also, as well as being called snowy plovers, in some places they are known as Cuban snowy plovers or beach plovers. Genetic studies suggest that the nearby Great Basin population is no different than the Western snowy plover but that there may be demographic and adaptive variations. Those living further east appear to be a different subspecies. Birds of the same name also occupy the west coast of South America, from southwestern Ecuador through western Chile, and are thought to belong to their own subspecies. It is estimated that about 31,000 breeding pairs of snowy plovers exist worldwide.
Cuban snowy plover
The coastal Western subspecies roosts in small depressions on the sand or on the leeward side of objects such as driftwood, kelp or dune vegetation. Their pale plumage blends readily with dry sand or salt flats, making them very difficult to see when they are crouched. They gather in loose colonies or in isolation, and sometimes can be seen scurrying across their sandy habitat like inconspicuous puffs of sea foam. They prefer wide open beaches, and forage on insects, especially beach flies, marine worms, and small crustaceans. Typically they hunt for their food high up on the beach.
Their eggs (usually three camouflaged white and brown speckled) are laid in nearly invisible nests on the ground and are vulnerable to being taken by predators or being trampled on during their approximate 28 days of incubation. The peak hatching period is from early April through mid-August, with most birds site-faithful, returning to the same breeding area each year. The male incubates the eggs during the night and the female does the same for most of the day. Two or three broods may be produced annually whereas the eastern snowy plovers usually raise only one.
The main threats to the Western snowy plover are habitat loss, the spread of European dune grass, human-caused disturbance, and the impact of predators such as dogs, raccoons, coyotes, foxes, crows, ravens, and falcons. About a third of the bird’s population stays in its coastal breeding grounds during winter whereas the remainder migrate a short-distances, north or south, typically for distances of no more than 300 to 500 miles.
Above, Western snowy plover chicks: the chicks leave their nest about three hours after hatching and accompany their parents to find suitable sources of food. Almost immediately they can forage independently and fly after about four weeks.
In appearance, the adult Western snowy plover is pale gray-brown above and white below, with a white hind neck collar and dark lateral breast patches, forehead bar, and eye patches. Early in the breeding season, a rufous crown is evident on breeding males, but not on females. In nonbreeding plumage, the sexes cannot be distinguished. The short bill and legs are blackish. During courtship, the male defends its territory, usually makes several scrapes, and the female then chooses which scrape she prefers by laying eggs in it. Adult plovers will attempt to lure people and predators away from hatching eggs with alarm calls and distraction displays. Their call is a short, sharp, whistled tu-wheet.
Various methods, including beach closures, are used to protect the birds’ coastal breeding grounds. Enclosures and sometimes symbolic fences are erected to protect the nesting area and to prevent predators interfering with breeding. Educational signs and brochures explain what is taking place, announcements are posted on why dogs should be kept on leash, written notices request that kelp and driftwood be left on the beach and that littering should be avoided. There is a ban on flying kites and similar objects, and lighting fires is prohibited. Sometimes docents are stationed nearby – especially at weekends – to explain the situation and to answer visitor questions. Efforts also may be made to restore habitat and expand the breeding area.
The presence of snowy plovers in Europe has never been confirmed and consequently these birds are considered a New World species. However, until 2009, it was thought that the Eurasian Kentish plover, named after the county of Kent south-east of London, was the equivalent to the North American snowy plover. Genetic studies, however, have shown that this is not true, and in July 2011, the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) announced the separation of the two groups.
Kentish plover distribution map: light green breeding; dark green resident; blue non-breeding
Growing up in England during the 1950s and 1960s, the Kentish plover had only recently ceased breeding in Kent, where it had occupied vast expanses of shingle near Dungeness. British breeding numbers were estimated to have shrunk to about 40 pairs by the mid-20th century, and were mainly located in Kent, but with a few birds in the counties of Sussex, Suffolk, and Lincolnshire. Apparently, the last UK pair to breed was in Lincolnshire during 1979. Today the Kentish plover is just a rare passage visitor to southern England with, for example, only 13 recorded sightings during 2016. Its disappearance is attributed to loss of habitat and the greater recreational use of beaches, and early during the last century, its eggs were taken and individual birds killed for decorative purposes. Nonetheless, this neat and charismatic wader remains widespread in other parts of Europe, and migrates to the northern half of Africa, northern India, and south-east Asia, for winter.
Dungeness, Kent, England
Unfortunately, I did not have the resources to travel to Kent during my childhood to try to spot the Kentish plover, and had to satisfy myself with observing its relatives such as lapwings near my home, and ringed plovers, golden plovers, and grey plovers during my visits to Yorkshire’s Spurn Point Bird Observatory. All four varieties still nest in Britain.
Let us hope that the current steps being taken to protect the Western snowy plover along the West Coast of North America will be successful, and that the species does not suffer the same fate as the Kentish plover in England. We should be grateful to all the people who help with this conservation effort.
This rare fall and winter visitor to the UK and occasional vagrant in the western states of North America is featured by me to celebrate its first ever appearance in the county of Shropshire in the West Midlands of England. The event took place during …
Here is the story of a species of bird that has flourished on continents where it was introduced during the 19th century while at the same time suffering serious decline in its native Europe. In North America, there were close to 200 million European starlings …
Across North America, there are about 50 native species of shorebirds, not including occasional rare visitors, and in Europe these birds are called “waders” because that is what they do.I first saw waders as a teenager at Spurn Point in the north of England during April 1961 when I recorded bar-tailed godwits, red knots, sanderlings, dunlins, redshanks, and a turnstone. Some of these same species or their relatives are now seen by me here in California. More about my adolescent bird watching is included my novel She Wore a Yellow Dress.
As you might expect, shorebirds populate the seashore and coastal and inland wetlands. They are represented by four families – sandpipers, plovers, oystercatchers, and avocets/stilts. Other birds that mix with shorebirds, such as waterfowl, seagulls, herons, and grebes are not part of this agenda.
The sandpiper family includes small birds (length 4.5 to 9 inches/11.5 to 23 cm) that are called sandpipers (nicknamed “peeps”), as well as many similar-sized to larger relatives, with names such as sanderling, dunlin, red knot, Wilson’s snipe, wandering tattler, dowitchers, surfbird, three species of phalarope, and ruddy and black turnstones. Wilson’s snipe and the American woodcock occupy inland marshes and forest thickets. There are also species of large sandpiper that include the long-billed curlew, whimbrel, several types of godwit, willet, and a bird with the title of yellowlegs.
Within California, a few shorebirds live year-round along the coast and on wetlands, but the population increases dramatically during fall when large numbers of shorebirds arrive or pass through on their way to wintering grounds elsewhere. They return to their northerly breeding sites in spring. The least sandpiper, the smallest shorebird in the world, and the slightly larger western sandpiper, are the common representatives here in California during fall and winter. Additionally, the Baird’s, spotted, stilt, and solitary sandpipers are regular visitors. and rarer varieties show up periodically such as the sharp-tailed sandpiper, buff-breasted, Terek, and upland varieties.
Most shorebirds arrive from mid-July to mid-November and leave for their breeding grounds during late March to mid-May. Deciding which species of sandpiper you are looking at can be difficult because many species replace their bright summer feathers with rather drab, similar-looking plumage during the fall and winter. To identify the six species of sandpiper most likely to be spotted in California, the following may help:
Least: a streaked brown back; smudge-brown breast; yellowish legs; slightly drooped, black bill; prefers muddy habitats; flock size usually limited to dozens; length around 4.5 to 6 inches/11.5 to 15 cm
Western: longish, slightly drooped black bill; dark legs; crown and upper back grayish in winter; white undersides; found on beaches, mudflats, and near lakes; migrates in large flocks of hundreds and thousands; length around 6.5 inches/16 cm
Baird’s: slender/elegant bird; wing tips extend beyond tail; fairly short black bill; scaledgray-brown upperparts; spotted buff breast; dark legs; shuffles when feeding; travels to and from southern South America; length around 7 inches/18 cm
Spotted: nicknamed “spotty” but breast not spotted in winter; back, wings, neck, and crown olive brown; white undersides; dull yellow legs; bill is pale yellow; white stripe on wings in flight; bobs tail up and down as it walks; widespread across North America; length 7 to 8 inches/18 to 20 cm
Stilt: migrates to inland South America; grayish plumage on upperparts; whitish below; dusty gray breast; long yellow legs; prominent white eyebrow; dark, slightly drooped bill; prefers freshwater wetlands; length 8 to 9 inches/20 to 23 cm
Solitary:migrates to central South America; travels alone or in small groups; prefers freshwater ponds and streams; speckled dark brown/green back; grayish breast and white underparts; olive-green legs and bill; bill is straight, thin, and of medium length; prominent white eye ring; length 7.5 to 9 inches/19 to 23 cm
Least sandpiper
Western sandpiper
Baird’s sandpiper
Spotted sandpiper
Stilt sandpiper
Solitary sandpiper
The nickname of “peep” is used by ornithologists to describe this group of small sandpipers that utter a “peeping” call. Their call is a short, thin, and often high-pitched piping cry made during flight or when the birds are running along the sand or mud.
The ubiquitous ruddy turnstone, about 8 inches/20 cm in length, also belongs to the sandpiper family though its appearance is more like a plover. It has a short, dark bill that is slightly upturned at the end. Its similar-sized relative, the black turnstone, has a much more restricted range, and only winters along the rocky shores of the Pacific Coast. Both species have a distinctive white wing pattern that can be seen in flight.In Europe, the ruddy turnstone is simply called the turnstone since its cousin is not present.
Ruddy turnstone
Black turnstone
Ruddy turnstone in flight
In Europe, small sandpipers are called stints, and during the 1960s I would often watch little stints pass through Spurn Point during the fall, following their breeding season in the Arctic. During those early years, I also spotted greenshanks and redshanks belonging to the sandpiper family but they are not common in North America. If you want to know why I became a birdwatcher, read my novel Unplanned.
Little stint on Spurn wetlands
Easier to distinguish are the larger members of the sandpiper family. They typically possess long bills, some with a slight upward curve like godwits and yellowlegs, and others with bills curved down such as the long-billed curlew and whimbrel. In the case of the willet, the bill is long and straight. One of the most challenging identifications is distinguishing between willets and the similar sized sandpiper species known as the dowitchers. Two varieties of dowitcher can be seen, the long-billed and the short-billed. Willets are heavier, have plain gray-brown plumage with no markings underneath, and display a distinctive white wing-band in flight. Dowitchers are dull gray, some spotting or barring on the side of their flanks, a white eyebrow stripe, and sometimes can be distinguished by their method of feeding – they probe in the mud with a rapid up and down motion like that of a sewing machine needle.
Willet in the front, short-billed dowitcher behind
There is also the Wilson’s snipe, a member of the sandpiper family and the only species of snipe native to North America. It is typically a winter visitor in California, although a few do hang around the Central Valley for summer. They are secretive and coy shorebirds that use their coloring for camouflage. When flushed, they appear using a very rapid zigzag flight and utter a harsh cry.
Wilson’s snipe
Identification of shorebirds is further complicated by the plover family whose members can superficially look like sandpipers in winter, and forage in the same habitats. They are plump-breasted birds, about 6 to 12 inches/15 to 30 cm in length, with rounded heads and short, stubby bills.They can be distinguished by the color of their bill and legs, and often have a full or partial black collar or breast band. The species commonly found on the California coast are the snowy plover, semipalmated plover, the killdeer (named after its warning cry of “kill-de kill-de), and the black-bellied plover. There are also several infrequent winter visitors to California such as the lesser sand-plover, Pacific golden plover, and piping plover.
Unlike most other shorebirds, they forage by sight. After spotting their food, they run towards it, stop, and then catch it. Most other shorebirds probe and peck in the sand or mud using the sensitive tip at the end of their bills to locate their prey.
Snowy plover
Semipalmated plover
Killdeer
Black-bellied plover, winter plumage
Shorebirds belonging to the oystercatcher and avocet/stilt families are the least difficult to identify, as illustrated below. There are two species of oystercatcher in North America, both around 16 to 18 inches in length (40.5 to 45.5 cm). The American oystercatcher has black and white plumage and a distinctive long, bright orange bill, and is found on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, as well as along the shores of the Pacific. The black oystercatcher is found only along the Pacific coast, and both species are mainly permanent residents. In the UK, I would occasionally spot the European oystercatcher that is a separate species and has black and white plumage similar to the American oystercatcher.
American oystercatcher
Black oystercatcher
Finally, with regard to the avocet/stilt family, the American avocet and black-necked stilt are its representatives in North America.
American avocet winter plumage
My earliest effort with this bird family was to try and spot a European “pied” avocet during a visit to Minsmere Nature Reserve on the east coast of England during 1968. Unfortunately it was a failure, as I describe in Chapter 22 of my novel She Wore a Yellow Dress.At the time, the species had just returned to Britain after 100 years of absence, attracted by new habitat created through the intentional flooding of the shoreline that occurred during World War Two to defend Britain against a possible German attack. It is now well-established in Britain and has become the symbol of conservation success, being used as the emblem for the British Society for the Protection of Birds.
Black-necked stilt
Unfortunately, it would take too long to describe every species of shorebird in North America and Europe, and how to identify each one. Instead, I will provide a general guide for identifying shorebirds, and will end the paper by introducing you to my favorite of all shorebirds, the black-necked stilt.
First, let me digress and feature the marbled and the bar-tailed godwits, two species of large sandpiper that are fairly easy to identify. They have a long, slightly upturned bill and long pointed wings that enable them to migrate non-stop thousands of miles each year. They are named after the call they make.
Marbled godwits are regular visitors to California in winter, arriving after breeding on the Great Plains. They are medium-sized and often can be seen congregating in small flocks on coastal mudflats and along estuaries. Some will continue onwards as far south as Mexico and the Caribbean. They can be identified by their mottled cinnamon and black coloring on their upper parts, and the rusty cinnamon plumage that is displayed during flight. They look a little like whimbrels but extend their feet beyond their tail feathers during flight.
It is this species’ cousin, the bar-tailed godwit that holds the record for the longest non-stop flight of any bird. A few years ago, several of these birds were tracked traveling from New Zealand to the Yellow Sea, making the unbroken journey in nine days, a distance of 6,800 miles (11,000 km). They then carried on to Alaska. Others have been tracked flying from Alaska to southern Australia, a distance of 6,900 miles, in ten days. Although breeding in Alaska, the bar-tailed godwit typically crosses the Pacific for the winter rather than traveling south down the West Coast of the Pacific. Thus they are only rare vagrants in California, with most sightings in the north of the state.
In Europe, the species breed in the Scandinavian Arctic and Siberia, and hundreds of thousands pass through the UK on their way south, with an estimated 40,000 stopping to winter in Britain, especially along river estuaries such as the Thames, Humber, Dee, and Forth. As I mentioned earlier, I was fortunate to see this bird traveling past Spurn Point.
North American marbled godwit
Marbled godwit – Migration map
Bar-tailed godwit – Alaska/Eurasia
Bar-tailed godwit – Migration map
Godwits are an example of how size, physical features and call help with a bird’s identification, but this often does not help with smaller shorebirds, especially during non-breeding.
For example, the dunlin, a medium-sized, chunky sandpiper, with a length of about 8.5 inches/22 cm and slightly smaller than an American robin, has a distinctive black belly and a vivid mottled rusty back during spring and summer, but for the rest of the year it molts into a mousy gray-brown and the black stomach patch disappears. In profile, it is round-backed and hunched, has a medium-length drooped bill, and forages using its bill like the needle of a sewing machine (similar to dowitchers).
Dunlin – spring/summer plumage
Dunlin in winter
You will find recording bill length and curvature to be very helpful for many shorebirds, and leg color will also helps identify some species. For example, greater and lesser yellowlegs have long legs that are colored bright yellow, oystercatchers possess pale pink legs, and avocets stand on long, spindly blue/gray ones.
If you see the bird in flight, try to see if it has any form of white wing stripe like a willet, turnstone, sanderling, or oystercatcher. Similarly, some species exhibit a white rump.
Another important method is noting the bird’s behavior. How does it feed? Does it run and grab its food like a plover, walk steadily and keep its head down like small sandpipers, or rapidly peck in the mud as if its bill is a sewing machine needle like dowitchers and dunlins? Flocks of sanderling forage on the beach rather than mudflats, and they can be seen chasing the waves backwards and forwards to find food within the narrow inter-tidal band.
Sanderlings
Bird calls are also distinctive. Does the bird whistle like a plover, oystercatcher, or dowitcher, or do they call loudly like a yellowlegs? Maybe it chips and peeps like many small sandpipers?
Finally, look at the habitat in which you see the bird. Oystercatchers, turnstones, tattlers, and surfbirds prefer intertidal rocky seashores. Others, like sanderlings and some plovers prefer the beach. Several types of plover, such as the killdeer, forage in grassy areas, whereas many sandpipers rely on intertidal mudflats, estuaries, and pond edges; several species choose to forage in shallow water like avocets, dowitchers, and yellowlegs, and salt-loving phalaropes spend time at sea or on saltwater lakes such as Mono Lake in California.
These ways of differentiating may seem complex, but if you study a bird carefully you can usually come up with a satisfactory identification. Consider using the checklist below:
Shorebirds Identification Guide
Size, shape, and general appearance
Single bird, or in small groups, or in flocks
Plumage color pattern, including wing stripes/white rump
Size, shape, color of bill
Length and color of legs
Behavior while feeding and in flight
Bird call
Habitat in which foraging
When and where it was seen
Now let me shift to the black-necked stilt to illustrate how the above guide can work. It is a species named after its black and white plumage and the long, thin, pale pink legs. Also, it is the only stilt native to North America, and became a favorite of mine because there is nothing like it in the UK. It is small, about 14 inches/36 cm in length, has an unusually long neck for a shorebird, and walks slowly and deliberately as it forages for food. Its bill is black and needle-like, and its call is a distinctive and loud “yap” or “keek”, often given in a series when alarmed.The species is fairly abundant in wetlands and coastal areas of California, and using the above guide, I would summarize the stilts I see on the Corte Madera Creek as follows:
Black-necked stilt
Tall and lanky with delicate-looking body and long neck
Seen in small groups or pairs
White below, black wings and back; black extends from back along the neck to end as a black cap covering the head from just below the eye; tail feathers white with some gray banding
Long, needle-like bill
Long, rosy pink legs
Wanders/pecks at food at edge of the mud close to the water/also occasionally sweeps bill through water, and in flight, pink legs are stretched behind its body; it usually flies low over the water
Produces a noisy, sharp“yap”;high-pitched and the call is repeated
Seen on mud flats and at the water’s edge in tidal areas
Seen all the year round in northern California wetlands
Black-necked stilts at Corte Madera Creek, CA
Since the mid-1960s, the global population of black-necked stilts has remained fairly constant, although in California the numbers have been impacted by a substantial loss of natural wetlands. Of the stilts that breed in California, 70 percent nest in the Sacramento Valley.
Black-necked stilts are their most noisy during the breeding season and adopt different methods to frighten away potential predators. One is known as the “popcorn display” where several adults circle a potential predator, and jump, hop, and flap their wings, calling loudly to frighten the threat away. There is also the “false incubation” when the adult crouches as if incubating eggs and then moves on to another spot to repeat the process. Finally there is the “broken wing” distraction when the bird feigns injury to persuade the predator to follow it.
Most definitely, the black-necked stilt is my bird of the month.
Shorebirds in general have managed to preserve robust populations, in part because so many breed on the northern Arctic tundra. However, that appears to be under threat because of habitat deterioration and increased nest predation. Climate change is interfering with food and nest availability, such as early summer cold spells, and shifts in animal population is causing a higher proportion of egg and chick losses. More research needs to be done to develop appropriate conservation actions.
It is fall, and the time when many Californians catch sight of flocks of the white pelicans flying in formation between their breeding grounds in the northern interior of North America, to winter along the Pacific Coast as far as Mexico, on the Salton Sea, …
One of my favorite species of birds is the surf scoter, a sea duck that is abundant during October through April along the North American west coast as far south as central Baja (Mexico), after breeding in the boreal forests and tundra of Alaska. It …
In chapter 5 of She Wore a Yellow Dress, I describe my first date back in 1965 with a fellow Hull University undergraduate who became my wife.She curiously asked about my favorite hobby, and when I said it was bird watching, she wanted the name of my best-loved bird. Willingly, I told her it was the curlew because of its large and golden appearance, its mesmerizing summertime call of cur-lee cur-lee cur-lee, and its behavior when protecting its nest. These birds often bred in waterlogged grassland fields close to our family farm.During my youth, I would hide behind the hedgerows (long since removed), hoping to see the parents, and find the location of their nest. Curlews are highly secretive. Their nests are usually hidden by long grass, and they will leave the nest by taking flight some distance away from where they are nesting. They sometimes pretend to be injured, dragging their wing behind them to persuade you to follow them. When I eventually would find the nest, it would usually contain four dark olive-green eggs with brown markings.
And who could not be hypnotized by these birds as they poured out their distinctive bubbling call, like a kettle rising to the boil, but never quite getting there. I would often hear the sound late into the night.
Regrettably today, because fields are drained and long grass is no longer grown, the curlew has moved on. Most of their past territory in the west of Britain has been lost, and virtually none breed in lowland England.
Curlews are migratory large wading birds, mottled brown and gray, with long bluish-colored legs, and very distinctive long down-curved bills. The bill length is approximately six inches (15 cm). In the UK, pairs nest on the ground in wet pasture, and on moorland and heathland, and in marshes. They are site-faithful, returning to the same location each year so long as conditions remain suitable, and their chicks often establish nesting sites nearby.The species is omnivorous, eating both plants and invertebrates, and are often seen probing soggy ground with their long bills to find worms, grubs, and insects. The bill is longer than their tongue and acts like a pair of tweezers or chopsticks as they extract food. They may then toss it into the air and catch it on their tongue before swallowing it.
Eurasian curlew feeding
Because of the decline in curlew numbers since the 1970s, the bird is now placed on the UK’s “red list” of endangered species. It is likewise listed as vulnerable to extinction in continental Europe. Reasons include habitat loss (afforestation, urban development, drainage of wetlands, and shift to arable farming), changes in farming practices (increased mowing of fields, destruction of nests by farm equipment, and early cutting of green grass for silage), more predators (foxes, badgers, crows), and climate change (loss of water, drying out of breeding sites, ground too hard for curlew bills, and the inundation of coastal habitats). To raise awareness of this situation the English-based Curlew Action Group has declared April 21 as World Curlew Day.
An estimated 25 percent of the Eurasian birds’ global population breeds in the UK today, numbering close to 70,000 pairs, but since the late 1960s its numbers have declined 70 percent. The species has never had it easy with humans. It was often hunted and eaten, and it was not until during World War II that butchers in the UK were banned from selling its flesh.
Curlews are mentioned in several old English recipe books, and in Cornwall they were so common that their meat was stuffed into pies. Evidence of their revival by the mid-20th century, however, is mentioned in the 1958 edition of the York Bootham School Bird List. Under “curlew” it reports:
At the end of the 19th century, the curlew seems to have been confided to the moorland parts of Yorkshire as far as breeding was concerned. Nowadays the picture is quite different. They have bred for several years in locations around York and during the severe winter of 1947, many were seen along the River Ouse.
North America long-billed curlew
In North America, the Eurasian species is not present except as a very rare vagrant. There are three other curlew species, however, native to the continent, with the long-billed curlew the most common. This is the curlew I have seen most typically since moving to California. It has an estimated population of 125,000 to 160,000, and its down-curved bill is slightly longer than the Eurasian variety, at 8 inches (20 cm). The bird is a foot tall (30 cm), and is the largest shorebird in the United States.Its coloring is mainly mottled brown, with a pale cinnamon belly, and in flight, it displays upper and lower wings that are slightly cinnamon. Because of the long bill, it was nicknamed the candlestick bird, and it is this alias that is one of the alleged sources of the name for Candlestick Point in San Francisco. Apparently, long ago, the long-billed curlew was plentiful in this area.
Long-billed curlew Range Map
Marbled godwit
In size, shape and color, the long-billed curlew is similar to the marbled godwit, but the curlew’s down-curved bill is distinguishable from the upturned bill of this other bird. The curlew’s call is a whistled and high pitched curl-e-e-u-u, whereas the godwit gives off a loud kerreck or god-wit sound.
Bristle-thighed curlew
Alaskan breeding grounds of bristle-thighed curlew
There is the much rarer bristle-thighed curlew, so named for the inconspicuous bristle feathers at the base of its legs. It nests in a few hilly areas of north-western Alaska and has an estimated population of 10,000. For winter, it flies non-stop to various south Pacific islands, including Hawaii, Fiji and Samoa. This species, regrettably, is vulnerable to extinction, causing its numbers to be closely monitored in Alaska and measures taken to protect its wintering habitat.
The third species of curlew may now be extinct. The Eskimo curlews’ breeding grounds lay in the far northeastern regions of Canada, and they migrated long-distance to the pampas grass of Argentina. The last confirmed sighting of this species in Canada was during 1987, and it was last recorded in South America in 1939.
Eskimo curlew
One caution for birdwatchers is not to confuse the identification of curlews with their close cousin, the whimbrel. The latter breed on the vast treeless plains of the frozen Arctic in North America and Eurasia, and migrate south to South America and the shorelines of Africa, south Asia and Australasia. Because of their more remote breeding locations, the whimbrel is less threatened than other curlew species, and maintains a global population of around 1.8 million. They are typically greyish-brown above and whitish below, with two distinct races. The Eurasian whimbrel is white-rumped (very noticeable in flight), whereas the North American subspecies is dark-rumped. The curlew and whimbrel are similar in shape, but the whimbrel is smaller, and its bill, although similarly down-curved, it is not as long as the curlew. Probably the best ways to identify the whimbrel is through its two dark bands across the head, and its rippling whistle that prolongs into a trill.
Like the curlew, it is named after its call.
Whimbrel
There are three other species of curlew worldwide, with only the little curlew not on the endangered species list. It is the smallest curlew, has the shortest bill, breeds in northern Siberia, and spends winter in Indonesia and Australasia. Its population is about 180,000, and the number is stable.
The slender-billed curlew, classed as critically endangered, has a population of under 100, and nests in the peat bogs of Siberia, wintering around the Mediterranean. Finally, there is the endangered Far Eastern curlew, with a declining global population of around 30,000. It breeds in eastern Russia and Mongolia, and winters mainly in coastal Australasia.
Little curlew
Hopefully, this article will help you understand why certain species of bird are headed towards extinction, and why conservation actions are essential. In the UK, efforts are being taken to protect the curlews’ habitat, monitor its nesting sites, cull predators or fence them off from the breeding areas, rear chicks in captivity, and increase public awareness of the vulnerability of the species. The North America situation with the long-billed curlew is less severe, although numbers have declined in the eastern parts of its breeding range. Consequently, the species is placed on the list of “birds of concern”.
Finally, remember that April 21 is World Curlew Day. The date marks the Feast Day of St. Beuno in Wales (who died 21 April 640) and the legend that survives him. As the story goes, he was a Christian missionary, crossing the Menai Strait to Anglesey to lead a sermon when he dropped his papers in the water. This would have been a disaster were it not for a passing curlew that rescued the book and flew his papers to land to dry and to prepare them for his services. As a thank you, St. Beuno prayed to God for the protection of the curlew and asked that the species become invisible and be allowed to nest safely in long grass free from predators.
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