the type of the curlews puts the biggest snipe-birds with 8 types. The stretched one, downward bent beak and the long legs give them a characteristic flight-picture while they are camouflaged upper side brown by its monochrome in the tundras and bogs of its northern habitats well. As well as the 5 old-terrestrial also as the 3 American types erbrüten its offspring during the northern summer.
Traveling-trains The birds must undertake long hikes southwards, that frequently lead out over the equator, in order to reach into the winter-quarters. So, the Siberian curlew (Numenius madagascariensis) flies Z. B. as far as to Australia.
The bristle-curlew (Numenius tahitiensis) overcomes a distance of over 8000 km in order to reach the Meade River from its hatcheries in northwest-Alaska as far as to Hawaii and Tahiti. On this occasion, wide routes must be scanned over the open sea without stopover. Also high requests for the bearings-fortune put this. The hatcheries in Alaska were discovered only in the year 1948 although the first copies were described already 1769 on Tahiti of a participant of a voyage of discovery under James Cook.
The hikes of the Eskimo-curlew (Numenius borealis) lead it from Alaska and northwest-Canada over Labrador eastward, along the Atlantic-coast as far as to South America. The once very frequent bird was out already 1929 almost completely wiped through Massenabschlachtungen at the Atlantic-coast. In the last years, few copies could only be sighted.
Types of Central Europe The big curlew (Numenius arquata) lives in our widths as biggest type beside the significantly smaller rain-curlew (Numenius phaeopus). its wing-span amounts to approximately 1 m. The female becomes bigger than the male and gains a weight up to 1000 g in individual cases. its brood-area stretches over the northern Europe as far as at the polar circle, eastward over Siberia as far as to Japan.
Reproduction Curlews set its nests on kurzrasigen surfaces, in bog and reed-grass of the tundras. The nest-hollow from-scratched by the male is padded with plant-sharing. End of April, the female usually puts 4 speckled eggs with a weight of 70-80 g. The brood-duration lasts up to 30 days. As soon as the boys became fully-fledged after approximately 34 days, the alto-birds with them start the Meeresküsten from the inland.
Hikes The autumn-train begins end of July according to brood-area and can pull in itself until in October. The usually nightly hikes of the curlews lead it over country as far as to North-Africa. However, numerous animals spend the winter also in the cotton wools of the North sea, in the Mediterranean-area or in southwest-Asia.
Reputations A wide reputation-repertoire distinguishes the curlews. The sound-is liable, melodic reputations are to be heard over wide distances. During the steep Balzflugs the males, the reputations based on the respective situation take over important social functions at greeting-rites of the brooding pairs, at rival-fights and in the train.
Food Beside worms, insects and larvae, curlews live also from berries. The different habitats caused through the big hikes require a big adaptation-fortune with all curlew-types with the food-search. So it is told about the bristle-curlew that it plunders even the nests of other seabirds on Hawaii.
Endangering The continuance of curlews decreased world-wide in the last hundred years since one followed the animals mercilessly because of its palatable meat. Also the biggest type, the American curlew (Numenius americanus), already is out wiped in wide areas of North America. The big curlew (Numenius arquata) is on the red list of the strongly endangered types with us meanwhile, and the rain-curlew (Numenius phaeopus) is among the endangered winter-guests. Under natural conditions, the life expectancy is very high on the other hand, like a big curlew rung as chicks in Finland proves. This later was shot in England only 32 years.
Scientific name: