Whimbrel

August 3, 2018

Whimbrel
Numenius phaeopus

by Greg Hanisek
This very large shorebird presents a spectacular contrast to the smaller sandpipers and plovers that it towers over on a sandbar or mudflat.

Where To Find Them: Like most shorebirds other than the anomalous woodcocks and snipes, the Whimbrel favors open shores such as gravel and sand beaches and to a lesser extent mudflats. It also feeds and rests on the short grass portions of salt marshes.  All of Connecticut’s coastal shorebird habitat attracts Whimbrels, but the Coastal Center at Milford Point is an especially favorable place to look for them because of the way high tides concentrate shorebirds in a relatively small open area.

When To Find Them: Because they nest in the high Arctic, Whimbrels are seen in Connecticut strictly as migrants. They pass through in both spring and fall and readily stop to rest and feed at the types of places listed above. In spring they’re usually found in May. This year’s date range was May 19-27. In fall they’re part of the southbound shorebird migration period  that most people would consider to be mid-summer. They can show up any time in July, although mid-July is the typical starting point. This year’s first report was July 12. Prime time is mid-July to mid-September, with a few seen into October. The latest date last fall for Oct. 10. Whimbrels are seldom numerous, usually occurring as singles or in numbers countable on one hand. However, the past two springs have produced unusual passage flocks of 30- 40 birds.

What They Look Like:  Size makes them conspicuous. Only the godwits match them in stature, and both of our North American species are rare to uncommon in comparison to Whimbrels. They’re brownish overall with a typically cryptic shorebird feather pattern. Their outstanding feature is the large decurved bill unmatched by any regularly occurring species. The Long-billed Curlew of the American West has only been recorded once in Connecticut, and so has the Eurasian subspecies of Whimbrel, which has a conspicuous wedge of white up its rump and lower black.

Conservation Status: Major efforts involve hemispheric-level conservation, especially  efforts to protect wintering and staging areas in South America. As a note of interest, North American Birds Online includes speculation that Whimbrels’ tendency to migrate in smaller flocks than other shorebirds helped mitigate population loss during the market-hunting of the 1800s.

Greg Hanisek, a regular Bird Finder contributor, is editor of The Connecticut Warbler, the journal of the Connecticut Ornithological Association.

Photo by Patrick Comins