Whimbrel (Birds of the Alameda Shoreline )

Whimbrel

Numenius phaeopus

Summary ⁴

The Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic North America, Europe and Asia as far south as Scotland.

Description ⁵

Length: 40-43 cm. Plumage: above, neck chest and flanks buff streaked dark brown; belly and lower back white; bold head pattern with buff crown bordered by dark stripe, white or buffish superciliary stripe and dark stripe through eye; tail barred. Immature like adult. Bare parts: iris hazel to dark brown; bill horn brown, paler brown or pinkish toward base, strongly decurved; feet and legs dull blue- or greenish-grey. Habitat: sandy or rocky shores, coast creeks and mudflats, coral reefs and off-shore islands. Palearctic migrant. <389><391><393>

Habitat ⁶

Comments: BREEDING: Nests in sedge-dwarf shrub tundra, sedge-meadow, hummock-bog, moorlands, and heath-tundra. Nests in depression. Often returns to same nesting area in successive years (Skeel 1983). NON-BREEDING: beaches, tidal mudflats, marshes, estuaries, edges of tidal creeks, sandy or rocky shores, flooded fields and pastures (AOU 1983). Roosts on saltpond flats and dikes, or in mangroves (Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Trophic strategy ⁷

Comments: Feeds on beaches and sand flats. Eats insects, worms, spiders, small mollusks, crustaceans (often crabs). Also eats berries. Probes mud and picks prey from surface.

Lifespan, longevity, and ageing ⁸

Maximum longevity: 16.1 years (wild) Observations: Oldest banded bird was 16.1 years (http://www.euring.org/data_and_codes/longevity.htm). It is also possible that another banded bird was over 19 years of age when last seen but this has not been confirmed (http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/).

Sources and Credits

(c) Cláudio Dias Timm, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdtimm/4487744204/
(c) Bernard DUPONT, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/berniedup/8224186596/
(c) Jorge Montejo, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/37486682@N07/3483969283
Adapted by Marisa Rafter from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numenius_phaeopus
(c) WoRMS for SMEBD, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/28497510
(c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/14506089
Adapted by Marisa Rafter from a work by (c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/14506090
Adapted by Marisa Rafter from a work by (c) Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/6705164