RARE OCCURRENCE A probable sighting of 23 Eskimo Curlews in Texas An unusualnumber of birds at a site seldomvisited by ornithologists David R. Blankinshipand Kirke A. King WENTY-THREESHOREBIRDS believed The flock circled over the marsh and then P.M. CDT on May 7. Conditionswere to be Eskimo Curlews (Numenius split into two groupswith six to eight somewhathazy, but several flocks of borealis)were sighted at about5:00 P.M. birds heading west toward Morgan's Black-belliedPlovers were seenpassing CDT on May 7, 1981, on AtkinsonIsland Pointand the remaindercircling and then overheadduring this same time period in Galveston Bay, Chambers County, landingfar out in the marshwhere they and no alterationof color due to hght Texas(29039 ' N, 94o58' W). were no longer visible. The birds were quality was noted. While boatingabout 100 meters off the silent in the air and flew in an unor- The sightingwas carefully discussed east shore of Atkinson Island during a ganizedbut fairly tight flock until just with constantreference to field guides surveyof rookery islandsin Galveston beforedividing, whenthe flock formeda (Peterson1963, Robbinset al. 1966) and Bay, we stoppedto observea concentra- line. we concludedthat the birds could only tion of mixed shorebirdsfeeding in a In the air, the birds showed little con- have been Whimbrels or Eskimo Cur- large areaof mud flat and marshin the trastbetween upper and lower surfaces lews. Bill length can be deceiving,but lsland's interior. A small flock of shore- and no distinctivebody pattern. The ef- thelack of headstriping and the presence birds was standingon a grassyspit that fect wasof an almostuniformly brown to of cinnamonwing liningswould seemto separatedthe bay from the interior buff-colored bird. We were in definite eliminate the Whimbrel. We feel it IS marsh. We moved to within 50 meters of agreementthat the wing liningswere uni- probablethat the 23 birdsobserved were the birds and observed them with 10 x form cinnamon-buff in color, with no Eskimo Curlews. 50 and 7 x 50 binoculars for 15 to 30 discerniblepattern or contrast.Peterson From 1945 to 1968, there have been secondsbefore they flushed. (1980) showsthe undersidesof the flight ten reportedsightings of Eskimo Curlews Our initial reaction was that the birds feathers of the Eskimo Curlew to be on the Texas coast (Table 1). Seven of were too small and short-billed to be darkerthan the lining, but we were un- these ten observations were made on Gal- Long-billed Curlews (N. americanus) able to see this distinction in the field. A veston Island, about 30 miles from the and that they must be Whimbrels (N. flock of Black-belliedPlovers (Pluvialis locationof our sightingon AtkinsonIs- phaeopus).We then checkedfor the dis- squatarola)flying near the curlewsof- land.In pastyears, Eskimo Curlews have tlnctiveWhimbrel head pattern,but the feredan opportunity for sizecomparison. beenseen between March 22 and April onlypattern visible was a faint light stripe Althoughthe distancethat separatedthe 29. The late spring record for Eskimo abovethe eye. The slightlydecurved bills two flocksprecluded simultaneous view- Curlews in Texas is May 4 when three did not appearany longerthan those of ing, our impressionwas that the birds individuals were collected at Fort Stock- the Long-billed Dowitchers(Limnodro- were very similar in size. Another com- ton in 1860 (Oberholser 1974). Our mus scolopaceus)that were feeding on parativeimpression which cameto mind sightingon May 7, 1981, would be a late nearbymud flats. We estimatedthat the was that the birds resembled diminutive record,but not so late as to be implausl- billswere about1.5 to 1.75 timesas long Marbled Godwits (Limosafedoa) with ble. The number of individuals we ob- as the head. The birdsappeared slightly much shorter, decurved bills. served was far in excess of numbers larger than the nearbydowitchers. We alsoconsidered the possibilitythat reportedsince 1945. Althoughour obser- When the birds flushed, they circled the light from the loweringsun combined vations are inconsistent with recent rec- backover the bay, passingoverhead and with a hazeeffect was red enoughto ob- ords, they are in agreementwith the to the side once at a distance of less than scurethe head pattern and make the un- flocking behavior of Eskimo Curlews 50 metersand again at 60 to 80 meters. derpartsand wing liningsappear buff and Bent (1929) summarized reports of Both passesprovided an excellentview cinnamon-buff.This seemedunlikely as flocksranging from a few individualsto of the color of the belly and underwing. the sun was not really very low at 5:00 200 or 300 birds. 1066 AmericanBirds, November-December 1984 Table 1. EskimoCurlew sightingsin Texas,1945 to 1968. LITERATURE CITED Number Date of Birds Locationa ALDRICH, J. 1978. Eskimo Curlew. U.S Apr 29, 1945 2 GalvestonIsland Fishand Wildlife Service,unpublished re- Apr 27-29,1950 1 AransasN.W.R. port. 11 pp. Mar 22, Apr. 18 & 26, 1956 1 GalvestonIsland BENT, A.C. 1929. Life histories of North Mar 22-Apr.26, 1959 1 GalvestonIsland American shorebirds. Part II. U.S. Nat Apr 3-6, 1960 1 GalvestonIsland Mus. Bull. 146. Mar 31-Apr.3, 1961 1 GalvestonIsland EMANUEL, V. L. 1962. Texans rediscover Mar 24-Apr.15, 1962 2b GalvestonIsland the nearlyextinct Eskimo Curlew. Audu- Apr 11-12,1963 1 Rockport bon 64:162-164. Mar 29, 1964 2 GalvestonIsland IVERSEN, E. 1976. On the brink of extinc- Apr 30, 1968 1 Rockport tion. TexasParks and Wildlife 34:24-26 OBERHOLSER, H. C. 1974. The bird life of aDatafrom Emanuel(1962), Oberholser(1974), Iversen (1976), andAldrich (1978). Texas. Vol. I. Univ. Texas Press, Austin bVertftedby photographs(D. L. Bleitz). 530pp. PETERSON,R. T. 1963. A field guideto the The ornithologydepartment at Texas been bird-watchingon the Texas coast birdsof Texas.Houghton Mifflin, Boston 304pp. A & M University,the Houston Audubon since childhood. He is a research biolo- __. 1980. A field guideto the birdseast of Society,and several individual birders in gist and a memberof the Whooping the Rockies. HoughtonMifflin, Boston the Houston-Galveston area were noti- Crane (Grus americana)recovery team. 384pp. fied of the sighting,but unfortunately our Theco-author has been engaged in water- ROBBINS, C. S., B. BRUUN, and H. S observationwas not confirmedby other bird researchin Texas since 1968, and is ZIM. 1966. Birds of North America birders. Atkinson Island is made of a memberof the Brown Pelican (Pele- GoldenPress, New York. 340pp. dredgedsoil from the adjacentHouston canusoccidentalis) recovery team. Both ShipChannel and is rarelyvisited by pro- authorsare thoroughlyfamiliar with the fesslonalor amateur ornithologists.A Whimbrel,the bird mostlikely to be con- boat is needed for access to Atkinson Is- fused with the Eskimo Curlew. land The late date of our observation and --National AudubonSociety, the logistic difficultiesassociated with ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 721 Pine St., Rockport, accessto the areaprecluded confirmation TX 78382 (Blankinship) of our sighting. ETHANK Chandler S.Robbins and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Both authors are experiencedorni- Marshall A. Howe for reviewing Gulf CoastField Station, thologistsand both are especiallyactive the manuscript,and appreciationis ex- P.O. Box 2506, Victoria, in thearea of endangeredspecies and wa- pressedto ClementineGlenn for typing TX 77902 (King) terbird research. The senior author has the manuscript. REQUESTS FOR ASSISTANCE THE EIGHTH ANNUAL spring io BreedingBird Atlas, and we would flights are availableto atlas volunteers, close-upstudy (interception line) along like to invite birdersto help us collect and financial assistance with travel and the lower Rio Grande between Browns- data. Althoughassistance would be ap- living expensesmay be available. ville and Mission, Texas, will be held on preciatedanywhere in the province,we Juneand July are the key monthsfor Saturday, March 30, 1985. Anyone are in particularneed of volunteersinter- northern atlas work. Northern volunteers w•sh•ngto participatein this all-day estedin workingin remoteareas of north- shouldplan on devotingat leastone week countshould contact Mrs. GladysDono- em Ontario. Experience with northern to road-accessibleblocks and ten daysfor hue, P.O. Drawer 400, Penitas, TX speciesand wildernesssurvival skills are fly-in blocks. 78576 as early as possible.Phone 512- essential,and canoeing experience would For more information, pleasecontact 581-6545. be useful in most remainingblocks. Mike Cadman, FON Conservation Cen- Some northern areas are accessible via tre, 355 Lesmill Road, Don Mills, On- roadand canoe, while otherscan only be tario, Canada, M3B 2W8; telephone THIS IS THE LAST yearof the Ontar- reachedby plane. Free and reducedrate 416-449-2554. Volume38, Number6 1067 .