Eskimo Curlew

Numenius borealis

Once migrated by the millions; not reliably seen since 1963. Delivers messages from a flock that may no longer exist.

Population: Possibly extinct; if any survive, 0-49 mature individuals per BirdLife/IUCN (last confirmed record: Barbados 1963, specimen collected; last generally-accepted reliable sighting 1987; scattered unconfirmed reports 1964-2006)
Habitat: Bred on treeless Arctic tundra with grassy meadows, birch and sedge; used coastal/ericaceous heath, crowberry barrens, pastures and intertidal flats on migration; wintered on wet Pampas grassland and semi-desert of Argentina
Fun fact: Once one of the most abundant shorebirds in North America, with migrating flocks numbering in the millions, the Eskimo Curlew was hunted nearly to extinction by market gunners in the late 1800s (as many as 2 million killed per year at the peak) and has had no confirmed sighting since a specimen was collected in Barbados in 1963.
Range: Historically bred in Arctic Canada (Northwest Territories, possibly Alaska); migrated east/south through Hudson Bay to Labrador, then over the Atlantic and Caribbean to winter on the Pampas of Argentina (possibly reaching southern Brazil/Chile); returned north in spring through the Great Plains/Texas
Diet: Insects (especially grasshoppers) and other invertebrates such as snails on breeding grounds and in South America; heavily reliant on berries (notably crowberries) during fall migration through Canada and New England
Size: 0.3 m
Wingspan: 0.7 m

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