Actions to take if you believe you have seen a A toolkit for finding Slender-billed Curlews Slender-billed Curlew The Slender-billed Curlew quest – the greatest European birding challenge 5 points to remember Be careful not to disturb the bird. Adults Try to take photographic images, ideally digitally, even via a mobile phone through a telescope. Please also try to make sound recordings of calls. Take detailed notes. (See below for key details.) Contact key local experts (ideally from national rarities committee or BirdLife International Partner) to come and verify your record and Eurasian Curlew Eurasian Curlew help photograph the bird. (Contact details are Whimbrel available from www.slenderbilledcurlew.net). N. a. arquata N. a. orientalis Slender-billed Adult Slender-billed N. phaeopus To facilitate the rapid Curlew Curlew. Morocco. Report sighting to the Slender-billed Curlew N. tenuirostris reaction of experts to help Pic: C. Gomersall. Working Group (see panel on left). verify record and undertake conservation Essential information to note action, please immediately send a report (including Date: Description: Please describe the digital images, sound Number of birds: bird(s) as fully as possible, referring to recordings or any other the field characters used to distin- Location: (include name evidence) to: guish the Slender-billed Curlew(s) of nearest town and from Eurasian Curlew Numenius Tim Cleeves GPS co-ordinates or arquata, eastern form of Eurasian grid reference). Slender-billed Curlew Curlew N. a. orientalis and from Observer(s): full names, Whimbrel N. phaeopus. Working Group Adults Co-ordinator: addresses, e-mail and Please also give any details of moult. phone numbers. timcleeves@ Describe any calls. Distance: your distance If the bird was with any other waders, yahoo.co.uk from the bird(s) in metres. please report which species. Mobile: N.B. Please also report any probable Slender-billed Curlews you have +44 (0)7920 050670 seen in the past, but not yet reported, and also places and dates Address: searched without any Slender-billed Curlew records. 11 Plessey Crescent, This document will be available in other languages. Whitley Bay, For further reference images, sound recordings of calls, and details on steps Tyne and Wear NE25 8QJ to take in searching for Slender-billed Curlews, please visit: United Kingdom www.slenderbilledcurlew.net Nicola Crockford Slender-billed Curlew Working Group Chair: Nicola.Crockford@ rspb.org.uk This document has been funded by RSPB and AEWA Telephone: Juvenile/ Illustrations: The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: first-winter C Schmidt +44 (0)1767 680551 England and Wales no. 207076, Scotland no. SC037654 November 2008 The challenging art of Slender-billed Curlew identification

The Slender-billed Curlew is the Juvenile European rarest bird in Europe, North Africa Eurasian curlew and the Middle East, its population Curlew, species at perhaps numbering fewer than 50 probably a glance individuals. orientalis, Eurasian Curlew (EC) It is critically endangered with showing very Slender-billed Whimbrel N. a. arquata/ global extinction. A ‘last push’ is limited number Curlew (SBC) (WH) N. a. orientalis now on to find the Slender-billed of cross-barred Size Small. (Bill tip to tail tip 360- Length: 400-460mm. Much larger than SBC, Curlew before it is too late. feathers. Observers 410mm). length 500-600mm. Birdwatchers are urged to remain need to look Wing length also much longer. vigilant when checking curlews, carefully to see and to organise birdwatching these feathers. Bill shape Always has fine, sharp tip. Evenly curved, but more Variable, many evenly-curved, but Perhaps the best identifica- abruptly downwards others straighter at base with distal holidays and expeditions to likely But bird was and structure tion feature. Slender, much towards the tip, with portion curved. Tip shows distinctive Slender-billed Curlew sites. large with long narrower and less deep at extreme tip blunt, narrowing, then expansion; so blunt- bill. Ukraine. base than EC. Can be evenly not sharp. tipped like WH. Many N. a. orientalis Identification: Pic: Slender-billed Curlews may be curved or straighter at base, have very deep, strong-looking bills, S. McElwee with curve towards tip. especially females. distinguished from Eurasian Curlew and Whimbrel using the Calls: reminiscent of certain larger Legs Dark grey. Shorter and Dull, bluish-grey. Length Much longer than SBC and WH. Paler features below. Some calls are Eurasian Curlew- raptors. The Eurasian Curlew-like darker than EC. similar to SBC. blue-grey in colour. Within the species, females are like, but shorter and higher part of the call is softer, sweeter, usually larger and heavier, and pitched. Two others are distinctive faster and higher in pitch, con- Tail White with four or five Banded, with brown and Variable. Usually a brownish wash over have longer bills. relatively-thin dark bars. off-white bars of equal central feathers. Others vary: off-white, of Slender-billed Curlew: sisting of four identical ‘cour-lee’ width. white, or brownish-white with dark bars Bills of juveniles are much a) a short ‘kew-ee’, presumed to be calls, with 0.25 seconds pause in of variable width. shorter in summer and will attain an alarm call, given in flight; between, second syllable distinctly final length only in their first b) Eurasian Curlew-like im- higher in pitch than first. The Under- No cross-barred feathers Adults have streaked upper Look carefully at breast markings and autumn. Freshly-moulted feathers mediately followed by 6-7 very tittering part of the call is higher body on breast, flanks or belly at breast. flanks. are darker and show stronger markings any age. Often looks dark; much Most have a number of cross-barred short notes ‘ti-ti-ti...’ becoming pitched than the distinctive ‘bi, bi, Adults are spotted on pale darker than SBC or EC. feathers, some have only a few (see contrasts than older, faded ones. progressively higher in pitch and bi, bi, bi, bi, bi’ of the Whimbrel. back-ground. Spots vary in Lower breast and flanks figure opposite), but these feathers are shape. Upper breast finely show some cross-barred always present. Side elevations Top elevations streaked. First-summer birds feathers. Juveniles can Slender-billed Curlew (74mm) show spotting on flanks. look more spotted, like Juveniles show pale-buff suf- SBC, but see head pattern. fusion across breast and Larger N. p. alboaxillaris flanks, with fine dark streaks looks paler than nominate down to lower belly. N. p. phaeopus.

Whimbrel (83mm) Under- Always shows white Not very pale. Much dark Variable. Some birds showing dark wings under-wing coverts and barring, except for N. p. barring on pale background and some axillaries. alboaxillaris, which has white under-wing coverts (especially N. Only a dark wedge on much paler underwings, a. orientalis). under-primaries. but still has striped head.

Upper- Dark outer primaries, often Darker upper wings than Upperwings similar to SBC, perhaps wings contrast with pale shaft on SBC and EC; more less contrast, with darker secondaries. outermost primary. Pale sec- uniform. Juvenile Eurasian Curlew (79mm, mid-July) ondaries show more white. N. p. alboaxillaris paler. Crown Brown, finely streaked, dark. Very distinctive: two thick, Plain brown with fine, dark streaking, marking Sometimes shows a very black to medium-brown sometimes has thin crown stripe, Top elevation thin, central crown stripe, not lateral crown stripes. like SBC. conspicuous. One above each eye, and From skins of LWL-Museum für Naturkunde Münster. H-O Rehage. running across the crown.