| Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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Numenius phaeopus is a long-distance migrant breeding in boreal and subarctic regions of Eurasia (from Iceland and Scandinavia to the northeastern Russia) and North America (mainly in Alaska and the adjacent parts of Yukon, and in the Hudson Bay area), and wintering in Africa, the Middle East, subtropical and tropical and Asia, Australia, Central and South America. Arrives in the breeding grounds in April-May; departs from July. N. phaeopus nests in boreal and subarctic taiga, tundra, peat bogs, dwarf birch forest, heath uplands, and grasslands; in winter on tidal flats, mud banks, reefs, marshes, rice fields, beaches, mangroves, etc. Medium-sized curlew; 40-46 cm in length; weight 270-600 g. Mainly grayish-brown, streaked with dark brown; a white back and rump in Eurasia, but gray-brown in North America. Blackish-brown crown with pale central stripe; long curved bill. This species nests in loose colonies; the nest is a scrape lined with plant materials. Clutch 3-4 eggs; incubation 22-28 days; the young are precocial. Whimbrel feeds on insects, small crustaceans, worms, mollusks, and berries. Global population estimated at c. 1,900,000 in the early 2000s, e.g., 25,000-100,000 in North America. 4-5 subspecies; the North American N. p. hudsonicus sometimes treated as a full species, the Hudsonian Whimbrel.
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