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Eurasian Curlew

Numenius arquata

IUCN status: Near threatened

 

Plumage

Large greyish-brown curlew with long bill and plain head pattern. White rump, lower back and underparts distinguish it from Far Eastern Curlew.

 

Confusing Species

Far Eastern Curlew 

Distribution

 

Distribution

No ordinary distribution in Australia.

Migratory habits

Migrates from temperate Europe, across to Siberia and western China south to southern Europe, Africa and southern and eastern Asia.  A “wrong turn” could result in the bird being seen here.

Breeding

This species breed in temperate Europe, across to Siberia and western China.

BARC submissions of Eurasian Curlew in Australia

Location State/Territory Sighting Date
80 Mile Beach  WA 26/11/2007 Accepted
Roebuck Bay WA 10/02/2015 Accepted
Australind WA 19/01/2016 Accepted
Cocos (Keeling) Islands IOT Nov 2015 to Jan 2018 Accepted
Austin Bay NR WA 30/01/2022 Accepted
Bunbury WA 16/10/2016 Accepted
Exmouth Gulf WA 14/01/2018 Accepted
Wonnerup WA 25-Feb-21 to 14-Mar-21 Accepted
Point Douro WA 21-Sep-18 to 12-Jan-19 Accepted

References

  1. Geering, Andrew, Lindsay Agnew, and Sandra Harding, eds. Shorebirds of Australia. Csiro Publishing, 2007.
  2. eBird. 2021. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance [web application]. eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Available:  http://www.ebird.org (Accessed: Date 12/4/2026)
  3. Rogers A, Fuller RA & Amano T (2023) Australia’s migratory shorebirds: Trends and prospects. Report to the National Environmental Science Program. University of Queensland, Brisbane.
  4. Driessen, J., Kidd, L. R., Weller, D. R., Purnell, C., Maguire, G., Jaensch, R., and LeClair, S. M. (2025). Australian National Directory of Important Migratory Shorebird Habitat. Report for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. BirdLife Australia, Melbourne.
  5. https://sproggies63.github.io/birding_apps/
  6. van Gils, J., P. Wiersma, G. M. Kirwan, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.eurcur.01