Eskimo Curlew
A vanishing species?
The Eskimo Curlew's Year
Spring Migration (North)
SPRING MIGRATION: The route of the curlew's northward flight from Argentina to Texas is the greatest void in our knowledge of its range. There are no verified spring records in South America outside the wintering areas and only two in Central America (Map 3 & Map 4).
ILLINOIS
Specimens: 4
STATUS: Regular common spring migrant; rare fall migrant.
Referring to the curlew's status in Illinois about 1873, Bogardus (1874:159)
wrote: "There are plenty of them in the right season of the year." Baird et
al. (1884:1:319) reported that "according to the observations of Mr. Nelson,
this Curlew passes in considerable numbers through the interior in its migrations.
He speaks of it as rather common in northern Illinois during these movements."
In 1895 Ridgway (1895:73) described it as "rather common." In 1909 Cory combined
Illinois and Wisconsin, stating that the species was "formerly abundant and
as late as 1895 it was not uncommon in some localities" (1909:424).
DATES: APRIL 10*, AUGUST 11 *, SEPTEMBER 1879*, OCTOBER (Hahn 1963;
Bent 1962).
"Golden plover and curlew may be found almost anywhere in the prairie States
in April" (Bogardus 1874:159). "It is said to arrive a little later than the
Hudsonicus [Whimbrel], passes north with short delay, and returns about
the last of September and in October, frequenting the wet prairies in company
with the Golden Plover" (Baird et al. 1884:1:319).
Most of the remainder of our information on the habitat, behaviour and hunting
of curlews in Illinois comes from Adam H. Bogardus, "Champion Wing Shot of America.
" Bogardus published Field, Cover, and Trap Shooting in 1874, which included
sections on "Hints for skilled marksmen....instructions for young sportsmen
[and] Haunts and habits of game birds." He moved to Illinois, near Petersburg,
about 1857, and then to Elkhart two years later. He apparently spent
much of his time hunting and got to know Eskimo Curlews, as well as all the
other game he hunted, very well. The first excerpts below deal primarily with
behaviour and ecology.
"Along with the golden plover, and apparently intimately associated with them
and forming part of the flocks, comes the curlew....When in the spring ploughing
the rich soil of our prairie States is turned up, a vast number of fat worms
are thrown to the surface. To pick up and feed upon these, the golden plover
and curlew will be seen following the ploughman along the furrows. Sometimes
they fly a little ahead of the plough and team, sometimes abreast of them, and
all the time some are wheeling and curling round and dropping in the furrow
which has just been made....Their boldness and tameness, when ploughing is going
on, is in strong contrast to their timidity and wariness on other occasions
(pages 151-152).
"The best places for shooting golden plover and curlew in the earlier part
of their stay with us are the burnt ground of the prairies, where the grass
is beginning to quicken, and those close-eaten and bare spots in the pastures
of which I have made mention....At their first arrival the flocks of plover
and curlew are rather wild and difficult to get at....The golden plover and
curlew are low-flying birds...At other times they fly pretty high, but within
fair shot; and when one barrel of the gun is discharged, the whole flock will
come swooping down towards the earth, as if the shot had killed them all....The
birds will be seen flying about in various directions over the wide pasture,
and settled in bunches on it. When put on the wing at such times, they always
settle in a cluster nearly close together, and put up their head as though taking
a survey of the ground" (pages 152-155).
The following excerpts from Bogardus give some appreciation of what spring
hunting for Eskimo Curlews really meant in the 1800s. "The curlew affords as
good sport to the shooter as the plover, and the epicure, who really knows how
good it is, esteems it as a dish [almost as] dainty and delicate...as the gray
or upland plover ....[When following the plough] these birds occasionally become
so bold and tame that they come quite close to the horses, and I have known
some to be knocked down and killed by the driving-boys with their whips....lt
will be best when going for these birds, to take a dog to bring in wounded ones....On
some days the flocks will be much on the wing, flying from one field to another,
and all going in one direction, as wild pigeons do. At such times the shooter
may take a stand in the line of flight, and get fair shooting all day as the
flocks go over. It is not necessary to hide altogether; in fact, in these localities-the
burnt prairies and great pastures-there is seldom the means to do so; but it
is often desirable to lie down. Here again it must be observed that it is of
no use to lie down in clothes strongly in contrast as to color with the ground
or grass....When they fly low and present side shots is the most favorable time
to pepper them (pages 151-154).
"It will sometimes be found that the golden plover and curlew are not flying in flocks in one direction in such a manner that you can select a place in the line of flight. It is then best to go with a horse and buggy....When they...[settle in a cluster] at a proper distance, the horse must be put to a swift trot in such a direction as you would take if going past the plover on your own sharp business. Judge the ground and estimate the distance, so that when you are abreast of the flock it will be within shot. The birds, in such a case, will not rise until the horse stops, and sometimes, if the shooter is quick and prompt, he may get a crack at them with one barrel just as they are upon the point of leaving the ground. ..There is no scruple about shooting at these birds in this manner among sportsmen....When shooting plover on foot...the sportsman must follow the same plan in principle.:. he must run fast, as if intending to pass....When the shooter is abreast of the flock, he must come to a stop, and, making a quarter-whirl, fire quickly (pages 154-156).
"When, by a shot at the flock on the wing, two or three of the plover or curlew
are crippled, the others will circle round them....On one such occasion I remember
having killed forty-two golden plover and curlew, all shot on the wing, before
I picked up one of them. Many a time I have killed as many as fourteen or fifteen
without lifting a bird....[One time] I started out after dinner from that place,
and drove two miles into the prairie. It had just been burned over, and large
flocks of plover and curlew were coming in one after the other. That afternoon
I killed two hundred and sixty-four plover and curlew, and got back to Elkhart
at sundown....This was done with a muzzle-loader. With a good breech-loader...I
believe I could have killed five hundred birds that afternoon....Of late years
I have generally killed from fifty to two hundred plover and curlew a day when
out after them especially (pages 157-158).
"The golden plover and curlew are highly esteemed by the high-livers of the
cities. There is a constant demand for them at Chicago, and good prices are
obtained when they first come in." And, a final experience: "'I once went on
a three months' shooting excursion to Christian County, Illinois, starting
about the first of February....In the three months I killed with my own gun
over six thousand head of gamebirds....The largest number were golden plover
and curlew, and the next on the list was snipe" (pages 158-160).
Concerning the curlew's decline in Illinois about 1873, Bogardus wrote: "The
golden plover and curlew are not as numerous in that neighborhood [Elkhart,
Logan Co.] now as they were then [1862+/-]" (page 159). Cory wrote: "The Eskimo
Curlew may still occur during the migrations in Wisconsin and Illinois, but
is becoming very rare and the species is apparently fast disappearing" (1909:424).
OTHER LOCALITIES: Cook Co.*, MacLean Co.**, Summit*. (Hahn 1963; Bent 1962).
INDIANA
Specimens: 3
STATUS: Irregular rare spring migrant.
Butler (1898:733, 1906:274): "Rare migrant."
DATES: MARCH 15*, APRIL 19*,1890(?); undated* (Butler 1906).
LOCALITIES: Chalmers**, Vincennes* (Butler 1898; Hahn 1963).
NEBRASKA
Specimens: 13+/-
STATUS: Regular common spring migrant; rare fall migrant.
Aughey (1878:55): "In early spring and in October in Northeastern Nebraska
during its migrations." Bruner (1896:76): "'Migratory, abundant, arrive in April,
May, and October' " (Taylor); "'A common migrant' " (Trostler). Swenk (1916:327):
"The bulk of the birds reached southern Nebraska about April 2 to 25 and remained
until the 15th to 25th of May; in northern Nebraska they were apparently most
numerous in early May."
DATES: MARCH 22**, 31, APRIL 1*, 2, 8, 1926, 12, 15, 15+,
17*, 18, 20**, 25, 30+/-, MAY 1-6+/-, 15, 25, OCTOBER* 1, 15; undated***** (Swenk
1916, 1926; Hahn 1963; Aughey 1878).
Our knowledge of Eskimo Curlews in Nebraska is primarily due to the efforts
of one man-Myron H. Swenk. Swenk published a 20-page article in the Proceedings
of The Nebraska Omithologists' Union in 1915 that provided a wealth
of information on the status of the species in Nebraska, as well as covering
what was known about it throughout its range. The article was reprinted with
additions in the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian
Institution for 1915 (in 1916). Most of what follows is from the latter
publication.
"...Prof. Lawrence Bruner...distinctly remembers the flights which occurred
in the vicinity of Omaha during the years 1866-1868' when he was a boy
10 or 12 years old....The birds would arrive about the time the later willows
began to bloom (latter April)' being present in force for a week or 10 days
only' for by the time all of the wild plum blossoms had fallen (middle May)
the birds were gone. Usually the heaviest flights occurred coincident with the
beginning of corn-planting time, and enormous flocks of these birds would settle
on the newly plowed fields and on the dry burnt-off prairies, where they searched
industriously for insects (pages 333-334).
"These flocks reminded the settlers of the flights of passenger pigeons and
the curlews were given the name of 'prairie pigeons.' they contained thousands
of individuals and would often form dense masses of birds extending for a quarter
to a half mile in length and a hundred yards or more in width. When the flock
would alight the birds would cover 40 or 50 acres of ground" (page 334).
"In the spring flight these curlews arrived at the same time as the golden
plover, though they did not always frequent the same localities. The Eskimo
curlew was always uncommon in the fall migration in Nebraska....The curlews
were rarely seen near water, but were upland birds almost exclusively during
the spring migration over the Great Plains region" (pages 339-340).
Concerning the distribution of curlew feeding grounds, Swenk reported: "The
chief feeding grounds of these curlews at the time Mr. Wheeler came to Nebraska
(1877) was in York, Fillmore, and Hamilton Counties' and their
heaviest lines of northward migration across the State were between the ninety-seventh
and ninety-eighth meridians. The birds were much less numerous north of the
Platte River than on the South Platte feeding grounds' although
they were noted there, but not in large flocks. One spring, about 1879, while
working on the Marshall Field ranch in Madison County, following a heavy
south wind, birds which seemed to have been driven past their feeding grounds
by the wind were seen flying southwardly, very close to the ground, apparently
going back to this South Platte feeding ground. The birds used to come in about
the 18th to the 25th of April, all arriving between these dates, and would remain
until about the 15th to the 25th of May. Early in the season, when they first
arrived, they would frequent the burnt-over prairies, where they would occur
in flocks of from a dozen to 300 or 400. As the season advanced the different
smaller flocks would bunch up until as many as a thousand birds had assembled,
but this assemblage was obviously made up of many small flocks. In later years,
when these prairies commenced to be extensively broken up and farmed, the curlews
used to feed a great deal in the open wheat fields, and toward the last they
were found very frequently in tame meadows" (pages 334-335).
Swenk continued with Wheeler's account of their arrival on feeding areas:
"When the birds came in they would be up quite high, perhaps from 200 to 300
yards to a quarter of a mile, and in preparing to alight they would turn and
wheel, towering in the air while they whistled softly, would hover a while,
and then all drop and come down, flying along over the ground for a short distance
before alighting. The birds would always alight all at once and...if the day
were warm they would sit down very close together on the ground, forming bunches....On
rainy days the birds would fly restlessly from one field to another, moving
about in this way most of the day, and seeming unusually plentiful because of
being so much in the air" (page 335).
Two other pioneers contributed information on the curlews' Nebraska occurrence:
"Mr. L. Sessions moved to Madison County in May, 1871. ..The birds were then
very abundant and could be found moving over the burnt prairie or an occasional
plowed field, in search of food. The flocks were not large, about 30 or 40 birds
in a flock, on the average, and the banding together of numerous flocks such
as occurred in the South Platte feeding grounds was not observed in Madison
County, which furnished no special attraction as to feeding grounds ....
"Mr. W.A. Elwood, who as a boy hunter in the seventies shot quite a number
of these birds in Antelope County, states that they were numerous in
flocks of 30 or 40 birds, appearing about the first week in May and remaining
only a very short time, just long enough to feed. He has not seen the bird for
the past 20 years or more [since 1895+/-]" (page 336).
Three of the most recent observations are also described: "About the middle
of April, 1900, Mr. Paul I. Hoagland and his father, of Omaha, were hunting
near Clarks**, Nebraska, when a large flock containing 70 or 75 birds
flew across the road and disappeared over the hill ..They saw a newly plowed
field and made toward it and found the entire flock on the freshly plowed land,
busily engaged in picking up grubs and insects turned up by the plow. The birds
were entirely unsuspicious and permitted the hunters to approach as close as
desired."
Two birds shot 22 March 1911, near Waco**, York County, were "both...females,
with well-developed ovaries....
"On April 20, 1911, while hunting at Clarks, within a mile of the field where
the large flock had been seen 11 years before, Mr. Hoagland saw a flock of 8
Eskimo Curlews" (pages 337- 338).
Swenk gave Cones' and Mackay's versions of the curlew's vocalizations and
then contributed some from Nebraska: "Mr. W.A. Elwood describes this note as
'a short, low whistle' continually repeated by many of the birds simultaneously
while in flight. Mr. A.J. Leach recalls the notes as resembling quite closely
the note of the bluebird when in flight, only perhaps shorter and more of a
twittering whistle, and, as it was given by a large number, perhaps all, of
the flock as they took wing and while flying, it was difficult to catch the
individual note. The note was constantly uttered while the birds were flying
and was often audible before the birds could be seen. Before alighting, as they
descended and sailed, they gave a soft whistle, somewhat like the note of the
upland plover, according to Prof Bruner, while as they walked over the ground
when feeding they uttered a chirruping whistle, as if calling to each other"
(pages 339-340).
As for their food: "Mr Wheeler states that in the latter seventies these birds
would congregate on pieces of land which had not been plowed and where the grasshopper
eggs were laid, reach down into the soil with their long bills, and drag out
the egg capsules, which they would then devour with their contents of eggs or
young 'hoppers until the land had been cleared of the pests" (page 340).
Aughey (1878:55) reported on the contents of a fall curlew: "One that was
sent to me from Bellevue* to identify, in October, 1874, had 31 locusts
and a large number of small berries of some kind in its stomach."
Hunting is better documented for Nebraska than for any other Midwest state
but it may have been of a similar magnitude both north and south all along the
curlew's spring migration route. As recorded elsewhere on the continent, a frequent
reason for the hunting was that the "flesh of the Eskimo curlew is said by all
who have eaten it to have been exceedingly well flavored, and, according to
Mr. Hoagland, the equal if not the superior of any of our large shore birds"
(Swenk 1916:340).
In Nebraska the hunting of spring concentrations was described as follows:
"During such flights the slaughter of these poor birds was appalling and almost
unbelievable. Hunters would drive out from Omaha and shoot the birds without
mercy until they had literally slaughtered a wagonload of them, the wagons being
actually filled, and often with the sideboards on at that. Sometimes when the
flight was unusually heavy and the hunters were well supplied with ammunition
their wagons were too quickly and easily filled, so whole loads of the birds
would be dumped on the prairie, their bodies forming piles as large as a couple
of tons of coal, where they would be allowed to rot while the hunters proceeded
to refill their wagons with fresh victims, and thus further gratify their lust
of killing. The compact flocks and tameness of the birds made this slaughter
possible, and at each shot usually dozens of the birds would fall. In one specific
instance a single shot from an old muzzle-loading shotgun into a flock of these
curlews, as they veered by the hunter, brought down 28 birds at once, while
for the next half mile every now and then a fatally wounded bird would drop
to the ground dead. So dense were the flocks when the birds were turning in
their flight that one could scarcely throw a brick or missile into it without
striking a bird" (page 334).
"In hunting these curlew the field glass was used by the hunters to follow
their flights. The fields where they were prone to gather were patroled many
times during the day, and carefully scanned with the glass to discover the flocks
on the ground....There was no difficulty in getting quite close to the sitting
birds, perhaps within 25 or 35 yards, and when about at this distance the hunters
would wait for them to arise on their feet, which was the signal for the first
volley of shots. The startled birds would rise and circle about the field a
few times, affording ample opportunity for further murderous discharge of the
guns, and sometimes would realight on the same field, when the attack would
be repeated. Mr. Wheeler has killed as many as 37 birds with a pump gun at one
rise. They weighed just about 1 pound each when they were fat. Sometimes the
bunch would be seen with the glass alighting in a field 2 or 3 miles away, when
the hunters would at once drive to that field with a horse and buggy as rapidly
as they could, relocate the birds, get out, and resume the fusillade and slaughter"
(page 335).
"Mr. Sanders, a guide and old hunter, of Clarks, who lived at Silver Creek
up to the early nineties, told Mr. P.I. Hoagland that in the early days the
birds were very abundant there, as much so as the passenger pigeon in the East,
and that hundreds would be shot in a single day" (page 336).
Two other groups also made use of these birds. Concerning the 1870s: "During
these days food was somewhat scarce in Nebraska, and many of the settlers were
led to look forward to this spring flight of the curlews as a helpful source
of food supply....ln 1889 Mr. Charles E. Holmes...reported the Eskimo curlew
as common locally in the hills about 40 miles south of Ainsworth, Brown
County, though they were decreasing and many were killed by cowboys" (pages
336-337).
Swenk also chronicled their decline: "The decade 1870-1880 witnessed the beginning
of the diminution of these great flocks of Eskimo curlew. In addition to the
numerous gunners who shot these birds for local consumption or simply for the
love of killing, there developed a class of professional market hunters, who
made it a business to follow the 'flight birds' as they made their annual journey
across the State each spring" (page 334).
"Removing from Omaha to West Point in 1869, Prof. Bruner recalls that
though he noted the birds each spring the flocks were usually much smaller than
the enormous flights seen at Omaha, usually consisting of 50 to 100 birds, though
occasionally of considerable size. Year by year the birds decreased in numbers,
until by 1878, in which year Prof. Bruner entered the services of the Government,
they were seen only in small flocks or individually here and there....By the
nineties the Eskimo curlew was so reduced in numbers that hunters rarely met
with it, and there are no records of specimens taken during the next 20 years,
though it was repeatedly reported as seen by competent observers" (pages 336-337).
The last report for Nebraska was on 8 April 1926. A flock of eight
birds was seen six km (four mi.) east of Hastings (Swenk 1926:117).
OTHER LOCALITIES: Alda, Grand Island, Hall Co*, Kearney, Kennedy, Lincoln,
Norfolk**, Oakdale* Wood Lake* (Cooke 1888; Hahn 1963; Swenk 1916)
IOWA
Specimens: 10
STATUS: Regular rare spring migrant.
Anderson (1907:227): "Rare migrant." Van Buren Co.: "Spring migrant,
very rare." Jackson Co.: "Rare transient." Dinsmore et al. (1984:141):
"Formerly spring migrant."
DATES:APRIL5*,10***,20**, MAY 3, 1901*; undated** (Dinsmore et al.
1984:141).
Krider (1879:68) states: "I have found it in lowa in May, migrating westward."
OTHER LOCALITIES: Burlington*, Davenport*, Grinnell***, Johnson Co.*, Northern
lowa**, Polk Co.** (Dinsmore et al. 1984; Anderson 1907).
WYOMING
STATUS: Hypothetical.
"[About] 1897, Mr. P.l. Hoagland [familiar with Eskimo Curlews in Nebraska]
saw a flock of these birds near Laramie, Wyoming, so late in the spring
that he wondered if the birds could be expecting to nest there" (Swenk 1916:337).
SOUTH DAKOTA
Specimens: 2-3
STATUS: Regular common spring migrant.
Over and Thoms in 1921 "reported that in the early days the species was quite
common in migration" (Harrell 1978). Harrell (1978:112): "Formerly a common
to abundant spring transient at least East River " Agersborg (1885:287) for
"Southeastern Dakota": "In spring often very abundant. " Reagan (1908:464) for
the Rosebud Indian Reservation: "Well represented on the Butte Creek
flats in June" [Undoubtedly an error]. Cooke (1915b:289) referred to it as "common
in April from Kansas to South Dakota " Writing in 1880 McChesney apparently
did not find it in three years at Fort Sisseton in northeastern South Dakota
(McChesney 1880:94).
DATES: 1885 +/- *, 1893, APRIL 16, MAY 3*, 5*, 7+/- - 15 +/-, 10,
JUNE (Bent 1962; Forbush 1916; Hahn 1963; Harrell 1978; Coues 1874; Reagan 1908).
Coues (1874:511) described the curlews' occurrence in the southeast corner
of the state in May 1873 as follows: "During the second week of that month I
saw numerous flocks of fifty to several hundred on the prairies along the road
between Fort Randall and Yankton. Snow, many feet in depth,
still filled the ravines, where it had accumulated from the memorable storm
of April 15-17, but the hills and flat prairie were bare, soft, and cozy, and
about springing into the life of the new season. The Curlews were scattered
everywhere, dotting the prairie with the Bartramian Sandpipers and Golden Plovers,
in large, loose flocks, which, as they fed, kept up a continuous, low, piping
noise, as if conversing with each other."
Cooke (1888:98) stated that "the bulk arrived at Vermillion**, Dak.,
May 3." C.E. Holmes, familiar with them in Nebraska, reported to Forbush (1916:423-424)
that "in 1892 he saw about six in the Bad Lands of South Dakota, and
in 1893 he saw two there,-the last that he ever saw, although he resided
in South Dakota until recently. "
OTHER LOCALITIES: Brown Co., Hamilton Co. [=Hamlin?], Harrison (Aldrich 1977,
plus references under DATES).
MINNESOTA
Specimens: 0
STATUS: Regular common spring migrant in western part.
Roberts (1936:486): "Western part of the state, where it was without doubt
once abundant as a spring migrant ." Green and Janssen (1975:84): "Regular migrant."
DATES: APRIL 3, 24 (Roberts 1936).
Roberts summarizes for Minnesota: "Dr. Hatch, in 1876, says: 'Is found to
be abundant in season in some parts of the State especially the northwestern';
and in his list of 1880, 'not rare,' while the brief account in his Notes
(1892) is indefinite and without data. Cantwell, in his list of 1890, says:
'Commonest of the Curlews. Seen only during migration,' but this is hearsay.
Thomas Miller reported to the U.S. Biological Survey at Washington two questionable
records from Heron Lake, 'April 3,1884, and Apr. 24,1885.'"
These dates are also given in Cooke (1888:98), who suggested that they were
arrival dates.
Hatch (1892:148) states: "I find specimens of this species of Curlew occasionally
in the hands of the taxidermists, and have had them sent to me from the Red
River once, but have never seen them alive. "
WISCONSIN
Specimens: 3
STATUS: Accidental spring and fall.
Kumlien and Hollister (1951:43): "Exceedingly rare migrant." Cory (1909:424):
"The Eskimo Curlew may still occur during the migrations in Wisconsin and Illinois....Formerly
abundant and as late as 1895 it was not uncommon in some localities."
DATES: MARCH 22 or 23, 1903*, APRIL 27*, MAY 22?*, FALL* (Allert 1928;
Coale 1911; Hahn 1963; Kumlien and Hollister 1951; Scott 1940). [The May 22
date is almost certainly the March 22 bird]
"Thure Kumlien procured but two specimens during fifty years collecting in
the State. Dr. Hoy took several in an early day, but considered them rare. A
specimen which we saw, was also shot in Green Bay* in the fall of 1879"
(Kumlien and Hollister 1951:43).
Concerning the most recent record, Allert writes: "It was taken by Mr. Delos
Hatch, Mar. 22, 1903, (original label) on the Horicon Marsh
at Leroy*, Fond du Lac County....l have some doubt as to the
collecting date, but that it was taken in the spring of that year is without
question" (1928:95).
The 27 April 1899 record for Oconto Co.* has been questioned by Hollister
(1912:397) upon further enquiry of A.J. Schoenebeck, the person reporting it:
" 'This specimen brought to me in April, 1899, was so badly spoiled that it
was impossible to do anything with it, but the V mark on the breast shows that
it was a true N. borealis `As a record for a bird virtually extinct at
the date, and known from the state, even in the early years of its abundance,
only as a very rare straggler, this identification seems open to question."
W.E. Snyder's (1913:269) curlew specimen taken at Fox Lake, Dodge Co., on
10 September 1912 (repeated by several other authors) has been found to be a
Whimbrel (Scott 1940:567).
MONTANA
STATUS: Hypothetical.
Saunders (1921:53) stated that it was "formerly a migrant." Cooper (1870:83),
working in the 1850s, wrote that it "breeds near Fort Benton, where young were
caught in July, still downy...." Baird et al. (1884:1:320) repeated this report,
which Cooper then retracted in 1886:124: "The young birds I caught were probably
Limosa fedoa [Marbled Godwit]...which are described as very similar to
the young of Numenius when not half grown. It is my recollection, however,
that old Curlews were shot also, possibly barren birds."
Saunders also referred to "three specimens from the Upper Missouri collected
in 1841" by the Warren Expedition. Skaar et al. (1973:132) compared the catalogue
numbers of these birds with numbers given for more specific locations and concluded
that the three were quite likely not from Montana.
NORTH DAKOTA
STATUS: Hypothetical.
Wood (1923:33) refers to two specimens taken by Hayden in 1841 [of the Warren
Expedition] near Fort Union, situated a few miles east of the present Montana-North
Dakota boundary. Skaar et al. (1973) have raised doubts about where these birds
were collected, suggesting that it was "perhaps far to the east of the present
borders of the state [Montana]," thus perhaps in the Dakotas. Furthermore, a
third (unnumbered) specimen may have come from near Fort Union, in either North
Dakota or Montana.
MANITOBA
See Fall Migration.
SASKATCHEWAN
Specimens: 0
STATUS: Regular common spring migrant. RECENTLY: Accidental.
While the multitudes of curlews that migrated through the Midwestern states
undoubtedly flew over Saskatchewan, there apparently was no one in the province
to confirm their occurrence Mitchell (1924:108) does not list it for the province.
DATES: SPRING, early MAY, 14,1982.
In Fauna Boreali-Americana Richardson lists the Eskimo Curlew as a
spring migrant, under the heading "Species observed on the Saskatchewan, let
53° to 54°N., and from 600 to 1000 miles distant from the sea-coast
[Hudson Bay]. " In the accompanying text he states that specimens collected
in the spring of 1820 were "on the Saskatchewan" and those from April to mid-June,
1827, were "at Carlton and Cumberland House, on the banks of the Saskatchewan."
It is therefore likely that this report refers to Saskatchewan for one or both
years (Swainson and Richardson 1831:xiv-xxix; Houston pers. comm.).
In May 1891 "I was also informed that Esquimaux curlews were exceedingly abundant
about Moosejaw [ Moose Jaw] early in May of the present year. My companion
shot quite a number of them, and said they were found in flocks of nearly a
hundred. They left about the second week in May for the north...." [Raine 1892:114).
The only recent report is by Robert Kreba in 1982 of "an Eskimo Curlew
in a flock of Am. Golden Plovers near Monica Slough, s. of Regina
where the bird was under a two-hour scrutiny May 14" (Wedgwood 1982:865).
ALBERTA
Specimens: 2
STATUS: Regular common spring migrant in north; rare in south.
Salt and Salt (1976:143): "Very likely...was a transient through the province...."
DATES: 1826*, MAY 19, 1890*-a male taken near Calgary* (Hahn
1963).
There was a specimen taken in the Rocky Mountains near Jasper* by Drummond,
who was there from 6 April to 15 June, 1826. This is probably the specimen depicted
in Swainson and Richardson (1831:378-379) and on which their description of
"a specimen, killed on the Rocky Mountains" was based (Cowan 1955:29; C.S. Houston,
pers. comm.).
ALASKA
See Fall Migration.
CALIFORNIA
STATUS: Hypothetical
"Ascribed to the State three times: 'A common game bird in the San Francisco
market, though I did not myself procure it' " (Heermann 1859 in Grinnell and
Miller 1944:566). The second report was from San Diego: "One individual of this
species. .was attracted by my decoys and shot, September, 1883. The same day
I shot a Hudsonian Curlew...Both [birds] were new to me at the time..." (Holterhoff
1884:393). The third report came from Swenk (1916:329-330): "Mr. P.l. Hoagland,
who is well acquainted with this bird in Nebraska, states that a number of years
ago he saw a flock of about a dozen birds at Coronado Beach, near Tia Juana,
California, and that he shot a few birds from this bunch."
Grinnell et al. (1918:447-448) reject all three reports. "The first and second records are certainly, and the third very probably, referable to the Hudsonian Curlew. The specimen which was the basis of the second record was examined by Belding...and pronounced by him to be the Hudsonian, while the third record is based upon sight identification by an eastern hunter." If not Eskimo Curlews or Whimbrels, Little Curlews are a possibility for one or more of these reports. This curlew was found in California in 1984 (Lehman and Dunn 1985:247-248).
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