It is the largest wader that visits Australia, with a very long down-curved bill. The female's bill is usually longer than the male's and averages 185 mm in length. It is a bulky, dark-streaked brown wader, with a long neck and legs. When flying, the barred flight feathers are visible, lighter under the wings and dark above. They are wary birds, quick to take flight. Their wing beats are slow and deliberate, unlike the rapid beats of the Whimbrel. Other names are Curlew and Australian or Sea Curlew.
Not Threatened.
It is the largest wader that visits Australia, with a very long down-curved bill. The female's bill is usually longer than the male's and averages 185 mm in length. It is a bulky, dark-streaked brown wader, with a long neck and legs. When flying, the barred flight feathers are visible, lighter under the wings and dark above. They are wary birds, quick to take flight. Their wing beats are slow and deliberate, unlike the rapid beats of the Whimbrel. Other names are Curlew and Australian or Sea Curlew.
60-66 cm. 900 g
Taxonomy:
- Scolopax madagascariensis Linnaeus, 1766, Madagascar; error = Macassar, Sulawesi. Monotypic. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Distribution:
- E Siberia, from upper reaches of R Nizhnyaya Tunguska E through Verkhoyansk Mts to Kamchatka, and S to NE Mongolia, Manchuria and Ussuriland. Winters in Taiwan, Indonesia and New Guinea, but most birds migrate to Australia and a few reach New Zealand. Never recorded in Madagascar.
Is found on intertidal mudflats and sandflats, often with beds of seagrass, on sheltered coasts, especially estuaries, mangrove swamps, bays, harbours and lagoons.
Eats mainly small crabs and molluscs. Foraging by day and night, it is slow and deliberate, stalking slowly on sandy and muddy flats, picking from the surface or probing deep with its long bill.
Jun-July. Breed in the northern hemisphere on swampy moors and boggy marshes. Both sexes have similar plumage, with the males using their haunting calls and display flights to attract a mate and defend their territory. The nest is a shallow depression lined with grass.