Long-billed Curlew

(Numenius americanus)

January 2000 Fish and Wildlife Habitat Management Leaflet Number 7

General Information

The long-billed curlew is the largest member of the sandpiper

family with a total body length of 21-26 inches, including its

long bill (up to 4 1⁄4 inches in juveniles and 8 3⁄4 inches in

adults). Curlews, snipe, sandpipers, woodcock, yellowlegs,

dunlins, dowitchers, and willets are a few representatives of

the 82-species that comprise the global sandpiper family. Although long-billed curlews are considered wading birds or

shorebirds, they are primarily ground-dwelling. Its long,

down-curved bill and long legs are physical adaptations that

make it identifiable as a shorebird. Most shorebirds are associated strictly with wetland or coastal environments. However, the curlew’s use of other habitat types for survival, such

as short-growth grassland prairies, is indicative of its unique

life history and habitat requirements. Because of the longbilled curlew’s diverse habitat needs, managing habitats for this species can potentially benefit many

other species of wildlife as well.

Once common nesters of grassland prairies and meadows throughout the western and mid-western

United States, long-billed curlew populations are now much smaller and less widely distributed. Uncontrolled hunting during the late 1800s and early 1900s and widespread conversion of native shortgrass prairie grasslands to agricultural fields up to the 1930s severely reduced curlew populations, and

in many regions eliminated them entirely. There is also evidence that curlew populations may have

been adversely affected by organochlorine pesticides in certain regions. Many present-day agricultural

practices, livestock grazing, and other habitat disturbances have prevented recovery of long-billed curlew populations in many areas.

This leaflet is designed to serve as an introduction to the

habitat requirements of the long-billed curlew and to assist landowners and managers in the development of a

comprehensive curlew management plan. The success of

any individual species management plan depends on targeting the specific needs of the desired species and analyzing the designated habitat area as a whole to ensure

that all required habitat elements are present. This leaflet

provides a number of practical habitat management activities that can be conducted on private lands to boost

local long-billed curlew populations and encourages involving fish and wildlife professionals in program planning to identify additional management actions needed

over time.

Wildlife Habitat Management Institute

Long-billed Curlew Breeding Range

Andy Wilson, Bowie, MD
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

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Range

The breeding range of this migratory species extends from from eastern New Mexico and the Texas

panhandle, north through western Kansas, central Nebraska, central South Dakota, and western North

Dakota and west to portions of Montana and southern

Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia. In the Great Basin the curlew ranges from Utah

west to California and north into eastern Washington

and British Columbia. Winter distribution is scattered

across the southern United States. Long-billed curlews

winter from California, into western Nevada, Arizona,

eastern New Mexico, western and southern Texas, and

coastal Louisiana south to Baja, California, and Guatemala. Wintering curlews are found in small numbers

along the Atlantic coast from South Carolina to Florida

as well.

Habitat Requirements

General

Short-growth grasslands, mixed-grass prairies, meadows, grazed mixed-grass and scrub communities,

cultivated fields, lawns, mud flats, grassy floodplains, sandy islands, shoals, salt marshes along coastal

shorelines, and edges of ponds, lakes, and other non-flowing bodies of water comprise common habitats used by long-billed curlews. Long-billed curlews rely on the cover and openness of grasslands,

prairies, and pastures to nest and rear young. Winter habitat consists primarily of tidal flats and other

coastal habitats as well as inland grassland and agricultural habitats. Long-billed curlews feed on a variety of food items, enabling them to forage in a diversity of habitats. Grasslands, cultivated and stubble fields, wet meadows, prairie dog colonies, wetland margins, and other areas of short herbaceous

vegetation are common foraging habitats. Grassland vegetation less than 12 inches tall enables curlews to forage without restricting the maneuverability of their long bills.

Adequate short-growth grassland nesting habitat may be the single most important factor in sustaining

long-billed curlew populations. The continued loss of grassland habitat remains one of the greatest

threats to the long-billed curlew’s future. Preserving and properly managing grassland, prairie, coastline, and shallow-banked, open water habitats can assist landowners in boosting local long-billed curlew populations, as well as populations of other species that rely on similar habitat.

Food

The long-billed curlew is an opportunistic feeder, consuming available food items by probing its bill in

the mud and in animal burrows. Long-billed curlews feed on insects, marine and freshwater invertebrates, mollusks, amphibians, and wild fruits. When foraging in uplands, long-billed curlews feed on

grasshoppers, beetles, and caterpillars and other invertebrates in low-growing grassy areas. During

migration, long-billed curlews feed on crayfish, small crabs, snails, toads, and berries in coastal and

lakeside habitats, as well as insects in upland habitats. Because long-billed curlews occupy coastal

marine and freshwater shoreline habitats, grassland and scrub communities, agricultural fields and

grazed pastures within any given season, food items consumed can vary considerably from region to

region and habitat types occupied. Curlews display no consistent season-specific food item preferences or limitations.

Long-billed Curlew Winter Range
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

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Cover – Nesting and Brood-rearing

The long-billed curlew nests in the short grass (3-9 inches) of wet and dry meadows and prairies,

grazed mixed-grass uplands and pastures, grassy floodplains, alkali flats, and occasionally in hayfields,

cropland, and fallow or stubble fields. Nests are usually formed in a shallow depression that is lined

with grasses or weeds to protect eggs and is often located close to (within 100-450 yards) standing

water. Allowing vegetation to grow naturally in grassland meadows and prairies, and conducting appropriate grassland management practices such as prescribed burning, managed grazing, and rotational

mowing, can help increase nesting and brood-rearing cover for long-billed curlews.

Cover – Winter

Winter habitat requirements for long-billed curlews include

tidal flats, salt marshes, and other coastal habitats, inland

grasslands, and agricultural fields. Winter habitats are

occupied following migration from summering grounds.

Long-billed curlews roost on the ground in the winter

season along the coast on small, sandy off-shore islands, in

coastal prairies, and at the edges of ponds, lakes, and other

non-flowing bodies of water. Due to varying winter

temperatures among curlew wintering areas, availability of

common food sources (especially insects) may vary, but

cover requirements remain constant. Insect abundance is a

major factor in determining where long-billed curlews

winter.

Water

Daily foraging activities and the types of foods eaten provide long-billed curlews with an adequate

amount of water.

Interspersion of Habitat Components

Ideal interspersion of long-billed curlew habitat components on breeding grounds consists of a complex of short-growth grasslands, agricultural fields, wet and dry meadows and prairies, and grazed

mixed-grass and scrub communities. Tidal flats, salt marshes, sandy islands and shoals along coastal

shorelines, inland grasslands, and edges of ponds, lakes, and other non-flowing bodies of water are

needed on the wintering grounds. In order for successful long-billed curlew reproduction and survival

to occur, all seasonal habitat components must be available in close proximity. The most critical aspect of habitat interspersion, or the mix of different habitat types, is the proximity of foraging habitat

to nesting, brood-rearing, and roosting cover. For example, the highest-quality nesting habitat is of little use if the nearest foraging habitat is not within close proximity.

Minimum Habitat Area

Depending on the diversity of vegetation in an area, minimum habitat size needed and territoriality

displayed by breeding populations of long-billed curlews vary. Open, flat habitat with low vegetative

diversity supports curlew territories of between 35 and 50 acres, and areas with varying topography

and more diverse vegetation support territories closer to 15-20 acres. Distribution and interspersion of

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

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food and cover in the form of varying habitats determines whether or not an area can support a longbilled curlew population and the number of individuals that that population will hold.

Long-billed Curlew Habitat Requirements Summary Table.

Habitat Component Habitat Requirements

Food • Insects – grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, and others.

• Marine and freshwater invertebrates – crayfish, small crabs.

• Mollusks – snails.

• Amphibians – toads.

• Fruits – berries.

Breeding Cover • Short-growth grasslands, agricultural fields, wet and dry meadows and

prairies, grazed mixed-grass and scrub communities.

Nesting and Broodrearing Cover

• Short grass (3-9 inches) of wet and dry meadows and prairies, grazed

mixed-grass uplands, pastures, grassy floodplains, alkali flats, hayfields,

cropland, fallow or stubble fields within close proximity (100-450 yards)

to standing water.

Winter Cover • Tidal flats; salt marshes and other coastal habitats; inland grasslands; agricultural fields; sandy, off-shore islands; prairies; pond and lake edges.

Water • Daily foraging activities and the types of foods eaten provide daily water

needs.

Interspersion • Summer: Prefer a complex of short-growth grasslands, agricultural fields,

meadows, prairies, grazed mixed-grass and scrub communities.

• Winter: Complex of sandy islands and shoals along coastal shorelines,

tidal flats, salt marshes, and other coastal habitats, pond and lake edges.

Minimum Habitat

Size

• Long-billed curlews require 35-120 acres of suitable breeding and nesting

habitat depending on the topographic and vegetative diversity of an area.

Limiting Factors

For planning purposes, use the table below to subjectively rate the availability and quality of longbilled curlew habitat within a planning area, based on the above habitat requirements descriptions.

Habitat communities and components that are absent or rated low are likely limiting long-billed curlew

habitat quality.

Availability/Quality

Habitat Component High Medium Low Absent

Food

Nesting and brood-rearing cover

Winter cover (may not apply to areas in which

long-billed curlews do not winter)

Interspersion of habitat components

Minimum habitat size
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

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Management Prescriptions

Management treatments should address the habitat components that are determined to be limiting

habitat potential for long-billed curlews. For planning purposes, identify possible action items listed

below to raise the quality or availability of each habitat component determined to be limiting. NRCS

Conservation Practices and various programs that may provide financial or technical assistance to

carry out specific management practices are listed where applicable.

Long-billed Curlew Habitat Management Practices

Prescribed Burning - Prescribed burning is used to maintain grassland communities in various stages of

growth and vegetative diversity. Burning returns valuable nutrients to the soil and maintains grasslands

and open woodlands as open habitat while promoting new growth of grasses, forbs and shrubs preferred

by curlews. Although beneficial, prescribed burning is a highly regulated activity and should only be

conducted in cooperation with state fish and wildlife agencies and with assistance from licensed burners.

These agencies and individuals can help in the development of a burn plan, provide necessary tools,

equipment, and supervision, and assist in obtaining all required permits. Prescribed burns used to

stimulate new growth in grasslands should be conducted on a four- to five-year (two- to three-year in the

southeast) rotational basis in late winter or early spring (February-April) depending on the region.

Areas managed specifically for long-billed curlews can benefit from later burning (March-May) that

maintains grasses at heights of 12 inches or less. Dividing the burn area into strips or plots can leave

undisturbed escape and nesting cover adjacent to burned plots. Burn planning should include an

assessment of plant species’ response to fire. Disked firebreaks should be created around burn areas to

maintain control of prescribed burns.

Managed Grazing – Livestock grazing can be a powerful tool to control succession and maintain

productive curlew habitat in native pasture, rangelands, and other communities. Long-billed curlew

habitat on grazed areas can best be maintained by avoiding overgrazing while allowing some

disturbance to control succession. Areas managed specifically for long-billed curlews can benefit from

grazing rotations that maintain grasses at heights of 12 inches or less through May. Rotationally resting

pastures and fencing livestock from nesting and brood-rearing habitat may be necessary. However, in

some regions of the curlew’s range, continuously grazed lands are more commonly used by curlews than

early spring-, early summer-, or deferred-grazed pasture. To avoid detrimental effects of grazing on

other ground-nesting birds and mammals, determine the best grazing rotation to use on your property

with regard to livestock herd size, vegetation composition, and topography. 

Rotational Mowing - Rotational mowing can be used to maintain grassland communities in various

stages of growth and vegetation diversity. Grasslands should be mown rotationally in strips (20-50 feet

wide depending on a field’s size) once or twice a year in early spring before nesting has commenced, or

in the fall after nesting activities have ended, to leave undisturbed nesting habitat among mown foraging

habitat. Landowners should work closely with local NRCS field officers, state department of natural

resource officers, and other wildlife professionals when planning grassland management to determine

mowing dates and techniques that minimize impacts to nesting birds and mammals.

Note: Each of these management practices are beneficial in removing residual, standing-dead vegetation

by the beginning of the next breeding season, helping to facilitate curlew breeding and nesting activities.
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

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Habitat

Component

Management Options for Increasing

Habitat Quality or Availability

Cons. Practices and

Assistance Programs

• Create and maintain vegetative diversity within grasslands, meadows,

and prairies by conducting rotational burning, mowing, and grazing

when and where appropriate.

327, 338, 528A, 645, 647

WHIP, EQIP, PFW, CRP

• Protect coastal wetlands, marshes, lakes and ponds from siltation and

non-point source pollution by fencing livestock and providing bank stabilization through aquatic and bank vegetation plantings.

390, 643, 657

WRP, WHIP, EQIP, PFW,

CRP

• Reduce herbicide use on grasslands, especially near water, where application results in reduction of invertebrates (either terrestrial, marine, or

freshwater) or berries used for food.

Food

• Avoid widespread pesticide applications aimed at controlling grasshopper outbreaks, and assess the potential risks of such applications to longbilled curlew food supplies within inhabited areas.

• Conduct prescribed burning on a three- to five-year rotational basis in

late fall after nesting activities are completed.

338, 645

WHIP, EQIP, PFW, CRP

• Conduct haying in a timely manner so as to provide short vegetation for

the spring curlew nesting season (April-May).

Nesting and

brood-rearing

cover

• Reduce herbicide use when application results in loss of nesting, loafing, brood-rearing, or winter cover.

Winter cover • Protect coastal wetlands, marshes, lakes and ponds from siltation and

non-point source pollution via fencing of livestock.

390, 643, 657

WHIP, EQIP, PFW, CRP,

WRP

Interspersion

& minimum

habitat size

• Combine above prescriptions to increase interspersion of habitat components and amount of suitable long-billed curlew habitat.

NRCS Conservation Practices that may be useful in undertaking the above management actions.

Code Conservation Practice Code Conservation Practice

327 Conservation Cover 643 Restoration of Declining Habitats

338 Prescribed Burning 645 Upland Wildlife Management

390 Riparian Herbaceous Cover 647 Early Successional Habitat Development

528A Prescribed Grazing 657 Wetland Restoration

Available Assistance

Landowners interested in making their individual efforts more valuable to the community can work

with the Wildlife Habitat Council and NRCS to involve school, scout, and community groups and their

families, as well as state and federal fish and wildlife agency personnel, in habitat projects when possible. On-site education programs demonstrating the necessity of long-billed curlew habitat management can greatly increase the value of your individual curlew management project. Corporate landowners should encourage interested employees to become involved. Involving federal, state and nonprofit conservation agencies and organizations in the planning and operation of a long-billed curlew

management plan can greatly improve the project’s success. Assistance programs available through

various sources are listed below.
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

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Programs that provide technical and financial assistance to develop fish and wildlife habitat on

private lands.

Program Land Eligibility Type of Assistance Contact

Conservation Reserve

Program (CRP)

Highly erodible land,

wetland, and certain

other lands with

cropping history.

Stream-side areas in

pasture land

50% cost-share for establishing permanent cover and

conservation practices, and annual rental payments

for land enrolled in 10 to 15-year contracts. Additional financial incentives are available for some

practices

NRCS or FSA State or

County Office

Environmental Quality

Incentives Program

(EQIP)

Cropland, range,

grazing land & other

agricultural land in

need of treatment

Up to 75% cost-share for conservation practices in

accordance with 5 to 10-year contracts. Incentive

payments for certain management practices

NRCS State or County

Office

Partners for Fish and

Wildlife Program

(PFW)

Most degraded fish

and/or wildlife habitat

Up to 100% financial and technical assistance to

restore wildlife habitat under minimum 10-year cooperative agreements

Local office of the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service

Waterways for Wildlife Private land Technical and program development assistance to

coalesce habitat efforts of corporations and private

landowners to meet common watershed level goals

Wildlife Habitat Council

(301-588-8994)

Wetlands Reserve

Program (WRP)

Previously degraded

wetland and adjacent

upland buffer, with

limited amount of

natural wetland, and

existing or restorable

riparian areas

75% cost-share for wetland restoration under 10-year

contracts, and 30-year easements, and 100% costshare on restoration under permanent easements.

Payments for purchase of 30-year or permanent conservation easements

NRCS State or County

Office

Wildlife at Work Corporate land Technical assistance on developing habitat projects

into a program that will allow companies to involve

employees and the community

Wildlife Habitat Council

(301-588-8994)

Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP)High-priority fish and

wildlife habitats

Up to 75% cost-share for conservation practices under 5 to 10-year contractsNRCS State or County

Office

State fish and wildlife agencies and private groups such as local Audubon societies may have assistance

programs or other useful tools in your state.

State or local contacts

References

Forsythe, D.M. 1972. Observations on the nesting biology of long-billed curlew. Great Basin

Naturalist 32:88-90.

Pampush, G. J. and R. G. Anthony. 1993. Nest success, habitat utilization and nest-site selection of

long-billed curlews in the Columbia Basin, Oregon. Condor 95:957-967.

Peterson, R. T. 1990. Western Birds. Third ed. Peterson Field Guide Series. Houghton Mifflin

Company, Boston, MA. 432 pp.

Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, G. Gough, I. Thomas, and B. G. Peterjohn. 1997. The North American

Breeding Bird Survey Results and Analysis. Version 96.4. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center,

Laurel, MD.

Terres, J. K. 1991. The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. Wings Books,

New York. 1110 pp.

Timken, R. L. 1969. Notes on the long-billed curlew. Auk 86:750-751.
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

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United States Geological Survey (USGS), Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. 1999. Effects

of management practices on grassland birds – long-billed curlew. Draft. 18 pp.

NRCS

Wildlife Habitat Management Institute

100 Webster Circle, Suite 3

Madison, MS 39110

(601) 965-5886

In cooperation with partners, the

mission of the Wildlife Habitat

Management Institute is to develop

and disseminate scientifically based

technical materials that will assist

NRCS field staffs and others to

promote conservation stewardship of

fish and wildlife and deliver sound

habitat management principles and

practices to America’s land users.

 

www.ms.nrcs.usda.gov/whmi

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin,

gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or familial status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons

with disabilities who require alternate means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact the USDA’s

TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Wildlife

Habitat Council

1010 Wayne Avenue, Suite 920

Silver Spring, MD 20910

(301) 588-8994

The Wildlife Habitat Council's

mission is to increase the amount

of quality wildlife habitat on

corporate, private, and public land.

WHC engages corporations, public

agencies, and private, non-profit

organizations on a voluntary basis

as one team for the recovery,

development, and preservation of

wildlife habitat worldwide.

 

www.wildlifehc.org

We received helpful comments

on the draft manuscript from

Roland L. Redmond,

The University of Montana, Missoula, MT,

and Ron Ryder,

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO.