Extinction Archives

Eskimo Curlew

Presumed Extinct | 1963

Numenius borealis

Charadriiformes - Scolopacidae - Numenius

The Eskimo Curlew, a shorebird that once bred in the far northern reaches of North America and migrated to the southern tip of South America for the winter, is now generally believed to be extinct1.

In appearance, the Eskimo Curlew closely resembled other curlew species, with densely mottled brown plumage and a long, down-curved bill. It was a small curlew, about 30 cm in length, compared with the 37–47 cm of the Whimbrel, another North American Numenius species. Its bill was proportionally shorter than that of most curlews. The undersides of its primary feathers were smooth and unbarred, a useful distinguishing feature in flight2.

A long-distance migrant, the Eskimo Curlew traveled along one of the most extensive migratory routes in the Western Hemisphere, spanning the full length of the Americas. In autumn, birds departed from the tundra of Alaska and Canada’s Northwest Territories, moved eastward to the coasts of Labrador and Quebec, and then crossed the Atlantic to South America, where they wintered mainly on the pampas of Argentina. In spring, they returned north by crossing the Gulf of Mexico and moving up through the Great Plains toward their breeding grounds in the Arctic3. During migration, they fed chiefly on insects and other invertebrates found along shorelines and agricultural fields, supplementing their diet with berries and other plant foods.

Before the mid-19th century, the Eskimo Curlew was abundant, early estimates suggesting more than a million birds, though more recent assessments consider figures in the hundreds of thousands more realistic4. Over the following decades, however, relentless market hunting caused the population to collapse, driving the species toward extinction5. The loss, degradation, and fragmentation of its specialized breeding habitat and its limited migratory stopover sites—many converted to farmland—further accelerated its decline6. By the early 20th century, the Eskimo Curlew had become exceedingly rare, and the last confirmed records date to the 1960s. In April 1962, a verified photograph was taken near Galveston, Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico, and in 1963 a lone bird was shot near Foster Swamp in Barbados7.

Since then, there have been several plausible but unconfirmed sightings. One of the most hopeful came on May 7, 1981, when as many as 23 birds were reportedly seen near Galveston, Texas8. Reports continued into the early 2000s, including some from 2006, but none have been substantiated and most have been met with skepticism9.

Eskimo Curlew specimen, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Wikimedia Commons
Here is a high-resolution photograph of another specimen from this museum

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  1. It is listed as “Critically Endangered, Possibly Extinct.” by IUCN. ↩︎

  2. Townsend CW. 1933. Sight Records of the Eskimo Curlew. The Auk. 50(2):214–214. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/4076883. ↩︎

  3. Gollop J B, Barry T W, Iversen E H. Eskimo Curlew: A vanishing species? , Saskatchewan Natural History Society Special Publication No. 17. Regina, Saskatchewan. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online. 1986. ↩︎

  4. Canadian Wildlife Service. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Eskimo Curlew, Numenius borealis, in Canada. Ottawa - Ontario : Environment Canada, 2009. ↩︎

  5. After the Passenger Pigeon sharply declined around 1880, the Eskimo Curlew, due to its gregarious and predictable behavior, became a substitute target for professional hunters. They were extensively hunted and shipped to the eastern United States to meet the meat demand. See: Edward Howe Forbush. 1912. A history of the game birds, wild-fowl and shore birds of Massachusetts and adjacent states… with observations on their…recent decrease in numbers; also the means for conserving those still in existence, by Edward Howe Forbush, state ornithologist of Massachusetts. Illustrated with drawings by W.I.Beecroft and the author, and photographs by Herbert K. Job and others. Issued by the Massachusetts State board of agriculture. p427. ↩︎

  6. Environment Canada. 2007. Recovery Strategy for the Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis) in Canada . Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Environment Canada, Ottawa. ↩︎

  7. This Eskimo Curlew was mingling with other shorebird populations. “At sunset, September 4,1963, a lone Eskimo curlew, flying at the head of a flock of shore birds, was shot down by a hunter on the coast of Barbados….”. See: Bond M W. Did a Barbados hunter shoot the last Eskimo Curlew. Audubon Magazine, 1965, 67: 314-316. Cited from: (Gollop 1986). Cited from: Buckley PA. The Birds of Barbados. BOC Checklists (formerly BOU Checklists). British Ornithologists’ Union. Volume:24. 2009. ↩︎

  8. Blankenship D R, King K A. A probable sighting of 23 Eskimo Curlews in Texas. American Birds, 1984, 38(6): 1066-1067. ↩︎

  9. See the statistics in (Canadian Wildlife Service, 2009). (Gollop 1986) provides detailed accounts of sightings up to 1986. ↩︎

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