Story about this Last Eskimo Curlew by Fred Bodsworth was featured in Readers Digest book series. I remembered reading it and being engrossed in the perilous journey that the Eskimo Curlew underwent as it literally flew from one end of the earth to another, namely the Arctic in search of its mate. YouTube has a cartoon series on this species as well. There are several species of 3 species of Curlews in South East Asia. I've seen the Eurasian Curlew before. The rarer ones are the Far Eastern Curlew and the Little Curlew. Would be a loss to humankind should the latter two species face the same fate as the Eskimo Curlew.......
A comparison of the Curlews, Godwits and Sandpiper is available below with their respective status (as sourced from WaderTales website).
A comparison of the Curlews, Godwits and Sandpiper is available below with their respective status (as sourced from WaderTales website).
Eskimo Curlew is described in Alaska Department of Fish and Game's website as "Likely extinct: no documented sightings since 1962" - The other name for it was "Prairie Pigeon". Sad reading to see words such as "was", "had", "migrated" in the website. All in the past. See:- http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=eskimocurlew.main
ReplyDeleteI missed the Little Curlew at Sungai Balang, Muar when it was on "transit" in Malaysia. Probably on its way to Indonesia (or maybe even Australia) when I was in ricefields on 21st Oct:(
ReplyDeleteNorth Korea a sanctuary for migratory waders such as the Far Eastern Curlews, at http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36533469
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