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8

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) Alternate name(s): "Curlew Sting", "Pygmy Curlew" German name(s): "Sichelstrandläufer" Size: 18-19 cm; wing span 42-46 cm Weight: 35-100 g

Europe: Family Group 8 Family Group 8 Table Ruddy Turnstone Common Snipe Bar-tailed Godwit Black-tailed Godwit Eurasian Curlew Whimbrel Little Curlew Sanderling Temminck's Stint Little Stint Dunlin Purple Sandpiper Common Greenshank Common Redshank Spotted Redshank Lesser Yellowlegs Wood Sandpiper Curlew Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Green Sandpiper Ruff Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Curlew Sandpipers are very small waders. Their plumage is highly cryptic. When seen in Europe, they are often in eclipse plumage. During the non-breeding season they have a white frons, white throat patch, grey chest and white belly, vent and undertail coverts. The head is grey with darker brownish-grey streaking. The frons connects to whitish eyebrows above darker, grey eye stripes. The nape of the neck is also grey, while the wing feathers are brownish-grey, with thin dark-grey central stripes and thin light-grey edge-lining. The upper part of the tail is white, the tip is dark-grey. In-flight they show a thin wing bar, with stripes on the primaries, and a prominent white base of the tail, while the tip is dark-grey. The tail does not have a longitudinal black centre stripe. During the breeding season, apart from small light-grey patches around the base of the bill, the head and front, down to the belly become brick-red, with some striation on the crown and some minor scalloping on chest and belly. The back is dark-grey, with brick-red scalloping and light-grey edge lining. The vent and undertail coverts are white, with some dark streaking. The tail remains dark-grey. The eyes have dark irises. The dark-grey bill is slightly down-curved and clearly longer than the size of the head. The legs and feet are dark-grey. In flight the feet protrude slightly beyond the tail. Juveniles have a very fine, crisp scaly pattern on the back (that is much neater than in adults), with chestnut and grey edge lining on a grey base. Fresh plumage also shows a buff wash on the breast. Twitcher's tip Compared with other species of sandpipers and stints, they have the longest and most prominently down-curved bill (similar to a (Numenius) curlew, hence the name). The correct identification of waders ("shorebirds"), e.g. of the Calidris, Tringa, Actitis etc. or of the Charadrius, Pluvialis and related genera in the field can be quite tricky. We have therefore made an attempt to give some advice HERE.

Taxonomy, classification See Curlew Sandpiper at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Curlew Sandpiper is available HERE . Curlew Sandpipers are a migratory species. The breeding grounds of Curlew Sandpipers are located in Arctic tundra and taiga, mainly in Siberia, but also in northern Europe. They are also found in large parts of western, central and southern Europe, in Asia Minor, the Middle East and along the Arabian coastline, in parts of western and central Asia, mostly in (near-)coastal regions of South-east Asia and also in far-eastern Asia, e.g. Japan. In the southern hemisphere they have two major areas of winter grounds. The western population migrates to eastern and southern Africa, while the eastern population migrates to eastern Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia and on the North Island of New Zealand. In Europe Curlew Sandpipers are found only during their migration. While quite rare in spring (when they may take the most direct routes to their breeding grounds in arctic Siberia), they can be found more regularly in autumn, anywhere along the coasts of Europe, from the north-western Russian coastline, around Scandinavia (including the Baltic Sea) and along the entire North Sea and Atlantic coastline (including the British Isles) to the Mediterranean coastline. Curlew Sandpipers have a preference for saline water and are usually found in Europe only in coastal habitats.

Sightings Click here for sighting information J. Pires reports spotting Curlew Sandpipers in Montijo, Palhais Setubal, Portugal, in December 2017 and in March 2019, and in the Tejo estuary and Dafundo beach, near Lisbon, Portugal, in the timeframe July-September 2019. Others were found at Salinas do Brito, Alcochete, Setubal, Portugal, in April and August of 2022. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires.

Photos

ADULT

BREEDING

MALE

Lateral view of a male Curlew Sandpiper in breeding plumage resting together with Dunlins (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas do Brito, Alcochete, Setubal, Portugal, April 2022]

FEMALE

Lateral view of a female Curlew Sandpiper still in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas do Brito, Alcochete, Setubal, Portugal, August 2022]

Lateral view of a female Curlew Sandpiper still in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas do Brito, Alcochete, Setubal, Portugal, August 2022]

Dorsal view of a female Curlew Sandpiper still in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas do Brito, Alcochete, Setubal, Portugal, August 2022]

PAIR

Lateral view of a pair of Curlew Sandpipers in breeding plumage resting together with other waders; male on the left, female on the right (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas do Brito, Alcochete, Setubal, Portugal, April 2022]

Sex unknown

Near-frontal view of a Curlew Sandpiper moulting out of breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas do Samouco, Tejo estuary, Portugal, September 2019]

Near-frontal view of a Curlew Sandpiper moulting out of breeding plumage, left, with a Dunlin in breeding plumage for comparison (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Dafundo beach, Lisbon, Portugal, July 2019]

Near-lateral view of a Curlew Sandpiper moulting out of breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Dafundo beach, Lisbon, Portugal, July 2019]

Lateral view of a Curlew Sandpiper moulting out of breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, August 2019]

Lateral view of a Curlew Sandpiper moulting out of breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas do Samouco, Tejo estuary, Portugal, September 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a Curlew Sandpiper moulting out of breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas do Samouco, Tejo estuary, Portugal, September 2019]

NON-BREEDING

Sex unknown

Near-lateral view of a Curlew Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas do Samouco, Tejo estuary, Portugal, September 2019]

Lateral view of a Curlew Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sapal Alhos Vedros, Tejo estuary, Portugal, February 2023]

Curlew Sandpipers, front and left, roosting with other waders; click on image to also see Common Redshanks and a Common Greenshank (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montijo, Setubal, Portugal, March 2019]

Curlew Sandpipers, the smaller birds with the white rump and down-curved bills, in flight; click on image to see more Curlew Sandpipers, together with Common Redshanks and a Common Greenshank (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montijo, Setubal, Portugal, March 2019]

Additional information

More photos of Curlew Sandpipers were taken by us in Australia.

Food, Diet

Lateral view of a female Curlew Sandpiper still in breeding plumage gobbling up its prey (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas do Brito, Alcochete, Setubal, Portugal, August 2022]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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