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Eurasian Whimbrels are medium-sized, long-billed shorebirds. They have a dark grey-brown with light-grey streaked head, neck and chest, with two prominent parallel dark-brown stripes running the length of the cap. The belly and vent are off-white with some brown streakng, while the wings are boldly scalloped light and dark grey-brown. The uppertail is barred. Their plumage is cryptic, i.e. camouflaged, against the background of a mudflat. 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. Legs and feet are grey.

Twitcher's tip

Compared to other members of the Numenius family, Eurasian Whimbrels are by far the most vociferous. Their calls carry over long distances.

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 Whimbrel is available HERE .

There are 7 extant races of Whimbrels, which are a migratory species. They breed in various subarctic areas, in North America, Europe, as far South as Scotland, and Asia. The various races spend the northern winters along the coastlines of southern North America, South America, Africa, Arabia and of southern Asia into Australasia. During their migration they can be found in (mostly coastal) wetlands along their relatively well-defined migration routes.

Eurasian Whimbrels, race "phaeopus", are winter visitors to the near-coastal areas of Arabia, including the coastline of Oman.

Eurasian Whimbrels' preferred habitats are coastal estuaries, mangrove swamps and mudflats.

Race "phaeopus"

Race "variegatus"