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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.

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.

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 and again in May 2024.

A. Sarok found Curlew Sandpipers in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.