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October 04, 2004

Controversial curlew raises slender hopes for Europe's rarest bird

Birdwatchers from across the continent are flocking to the east coast of England to look for Europe's rarest bird.

A possible Slender-billed Curlew has taken up residence at the RSPB's Minsmere Reserve on the Suffolk coast. [1] BirdLife International estimates the total world population of the species to now be less than 50 birds. [2,3] However, so little is known about this critically endangered species that the bird's identification is refuted by some observers. [4]

One way of solving the mystery will be to analyse the bird's DNA. To this effect, birdwatchers are now training their telescopes on potential curlew droppings - so that a sample can be gathered and taken away to a laboratory. The bird is also being carefully watched in case it drops any feathers when preening. [5]

As well as being Europe's rarest bird, the Slender-billed Curlew is also probably its most enigmatic. The last nest to be found was in Siberia in 1924. The species is thought to migrate through central and eastern Europe, before spending the winter in north Africa. However, no birds have been seen at the last regular wintering ground in Morocco since 1995. [6] The last confirmed sighting anywhere in the world was in 1999. [7]

As a result, scientists at the RSPB have turned their attention to a new
method of identifying the species' breeding grounds. Researchers will
analyse the atomic make-up of feathers from museum specimens - collected
in the nineteenth century when the Slender-billed Curlew was commoner -
in the hope of detecting clues to the breeding territory.

Dr Debbie Pain, in charge of the RSPB's international research,
explained: "Any feathers grown on the breeding grounds will lock away
and reflect the area's 'signature' of elemental isotope ratios." Dr Pain
added, "This technique should allow us to narrow down the potential
search from an area several times larger than the UK to something more
manageable."

Although the species' likely breeding range is remote and far away from
people, it is wrong to assume it is safe for the birds. [8] Regarded as
very common in the 19th century, Slender-billed Curlews declined
dramatically during the 20th century, with hunting and loss of wetland
habitat thought to be major factors.

Dr Mike Rands, Director and Chief Executive of BirdLife International
commented: "If the Minsmere bird proves to be a Slender-billed Curlew it
will be fantastic news - the fact it is a young bird means the species
has bred somewhere in the world this year. However, we know so little
about the species that it is hard to know which of the possible
conservation actions are most urgently needed to save it. The only
certainty is that a massive effort is required to find and protect key
sites along the species' flyways in order to stop the Slender-billed
Curlew from becoming the first bird extinction in Europe since the Great
Auk." [9]

Photographs

Hi-res photographs of Slender-billed Curlews can be obtained from the
BirdLife web site at: www.birdlife.org/news/pr/2004/10/sbc.html

Notes

[1] The Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris) is a medium-sized,
predominantly brown wading bird. The bird at Minsmere was first sighted
on Tuesday 28 September.

[2] BirdLife International is a partnership of people working together
for birds and the environment. It promotes sustainable living as a means
of conserving birds and all other forms of biodiversity and is the
leading authority on the status of birds and their habitats. Over 10
million people support the BirdLife Partnership of national
non-governmental conservation organisations and local networks. The
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is the UK Partner.

[3]. BirdLife is the Listing Authority for birds for the IUCN Red List
which includes all species judged to be threatened with extinction. The
species is classified by BirdLife as Critically Endangered, meaning it
faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

[4] The bird at the centre of all the attention appears lighter-plumaged
than the two common Eurasian Curlews (Numenius arquata) that it is
associating with. As the name suggests, it also has a smaller bill.
Other plumage subtleties have led many experts to speculate that the
bird is a juvenile female Slender-billed Curlew moulting into its adult
plumage. However, many other observers are equally adamant that the bird
is just a slightly smaller and paler Eurasian Curlew.

[5] Scientists from the RSPB hope to extract DNA material from the
bird's droppings. Sloughed-off cells from the alimentary canal could
contain enough DNA to allow the bird's true identity to be categorically
identified. DNA can also be extracted from feathers.

[6] Flocks of over 100 birds were recorded from Morocco as late as the
1970s, however numbers dropped off dramatically during the 1980s. The
last regular wintering site in Morocco was Merja Zerga, a tidal lagoon
located 70 km north of Kenitra on the Atlantic coast. During the 1990s
1-3 birds returned each winter until 1995 when a single bird was present
for the final time

[7] The last confirmed sighting of a Slender-billed Curlew was in spring
1999 in Greece. Prior to that in 1998 - another bird was found in UK.
Like the current bird in Suffolk however, this individual at Druridge
Bay in Northumberland was highly controversial, with many experienced
ornithologists disagreeing over its identity before the British
Ornithologists' Union's Records Committee (BOURC) adjudged the bird to
be a Slender-billed Curlew after much discussion and analysis.

[8] For example, the marshes of western Siberia are being drained
rapidly and climate change and desertification appear to be affecting
the steppe grasslands of Kazakhstan and southern Russia.

[9] The Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis) was a flightless seabird (related
to the Guillemot and Puffin) found breeding on rocky islets across the
North Atlantic. The last known pair were killed on Eldey Island,
Iceland, in 1844, and the last live bird was seen off the Newfoundland
Banks in 1852.

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Posted by Surfbirds at October 4, 2004 07:06 PM

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