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Eurasian Curlews are big, long-billed shorebirds. They have a brown, scalloped front (head, neck, chest and belly), while the vent is off-white. The wings are boldly scalloped light and dark-brown. The uppertail is barred. Their plumage is cryptic, i.e. camouflaged, against the background of a mudflat. The irises are dark. The dark-grey bill is long and curved downwards, with a lighter, pinkish base of the lower mandible. Females have a longer bill than males. The legs and feet are grey.

Twitcher's tip

Compared to Eastern Curlews, which have a dark-brown rump, Eurasian Curlews have a light-brown rump.

The correct identification of waders ("shorebirds"), e.g. of the Calidris, Tringa, Actitis and related families 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.

"Raptors" (or "birds of prey"), most prominently, but also some species of waders, show a pronounced "dimorphism", i.e. a difference between male and female birds - not just in the appearance of the plumage, but in other, important properties, such as size or strength. Here we explain why.

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 Eurasian Curlew is available HERE .

There are 3 races of Eurasian Curlews, which are a partly migratory species. Altogether, their breeding areas lie in western, central and northern Europe (race "arquata"), in western and central Siberia and further to the East in north-eastern China (race "orientalis") and from western Kazakhstan to southwestern Siberia (race "schuschkini"). Many birds, in particular in the southern parts of their breeding ranges, can be sedentary. Others, mostly from the northern parts of the breeding range, will spend the winters further South, e.g. around the western European and Mediterranean coastline or parts of the North-African coastline. There are also wintering grounds on the East coast of the Black Sea, the South coast of the Caspian Sea and around the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, around the Indian subcontinent and into parts of South-east Asia. In the far East there are wintering areas along the coastline of China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. They are less commonly found in the south-eastern Asian island nations.

In Arabia Eastern Curlews, race "orientalis", are found as winter visitors, with most birds being found in Qatar, the UAE and northern Oman, but in principle they can be found almost all around the Arabian coastline.

Outside the breeding season Eurasian Curlews are often found in coastal habitats, such as beaches, estuaries and mudflats. During the breeding season they are more common around fresh water, in swamps and marshes.

Race "orientalis"