Eurasian Curlew

The Eurasian Curlew is a large, streaky brown shorebird and the largest wading bird native to Europe. It has a long, evenly downcurved bill, longer in females than males, used to probe deeply for buried prey. Plumage is warm buffy-brown, heavily streaked with dark brown above and on the breast, fading to whiter, less marked underparts and a conspicuous white rump and lower back visible in flight.

Its evocative, bubbling call, delivered especially during display flights over breeding moorland, has made it a culturally significant bird across much of its range, associated with wild, open landscapes.

Once common and widespread, the species has undergone significant declines across parts of Europe due to loss and degradation of breeding habitat, leading to its uplisting to Near Threatened.

Key field marks

• Long, evenly downcurved bill
• Streaky brown plumage overall, whiter belly
• Conspicuous white rump extending up the back, visible in flight
• Large size, notably bigger than a Whimbrel

Similar species

• Whimbrel is smaller with a shorter bill and a bold striped crown pattern, lacking the plain head of the Eurasian Curlew.
• Slender-billed Curlew (extremely rare, possibly extinct) is smaller and paler with spotted (not streaked) flanks.
• Bar-tailed Godwit has an upturned, not downcurved, bill.

Eurasian Curlews breed on upland moorland, bogs, wet meadows, and rough grassland across Britain, continental Europe, and Asia. Outside the breeding season they move to estuaries, coastal mudflats, and salt marshes, where large numbers may gather to feed and roost, from western Europe to Africa and southern Asia.

Habitat loss and changes in land management on both breeding moorland and wintering estuaries have contributed to population declines across much of its range.

Voice

A haunting, rising, bubbling call, often rendered as cur-lee or a long trilling song delivered in display flight over breeding territory—one of the most evocative sounds of European moorland and coast.

Feeding

Probes deeply into mud, wet soil, and sand with its long bill for worms, mollusks, and crustaceans; also takes insects and their larvae on breeding grounds.

Nesting

Nests on the ground in a shallow scrape amid moorland vegetation, rough grass, or bog. Both parents share incubation, and pairs perform display flights with rich, bubbling song over their territory during the breeding season.