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Curlew Nest Check

Monitoring Long-Billed Curlew nests in central Idaho
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Long-billed Curlew nest and eggs
© Susan Patla / Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Research biologist Heather Hayes of the Intermountain Bird Observatory takes us to a Long-billed Curlew nest she’s been monitoring in an alfalfa field. Before the West was settled, curlews nested in rich, diverse native grasslands. An alfalfa field has a totally different species composition than a native grassland, but for the Long-billed Curlews, the function is similar. Is it similar enough for nesting success?

Find out how this nest fared on the Threatened podcast.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®

Curlew Nest Check

By Monica Gokey


This is BirdNote! 

I’m walking through an alfalfa field in central Idaho with research biologist Heather Hayes of the Intermountain Bird Observatory. Her GPS guides us to a Long-billed Curlew nest she’s been monitoring. We’re hoping to see the female.

Heather: Today is her hatch date, so we’re hoping that it’s on target.

Heather tells me curlews are typically on high alert on hatch day. But we see no adult birds. Huh. 

Heather finds the nest and we crouch down over it. There are four green eggs, speckled brown, camouflaged beautifully. Heather picks one up and shows me several small cracks in one part of the egg.

Heather: So the eggs are starring, which is when the chicks start to break out of the egg.

Heather gently lays a hand over the eggs. 

Heather: They feel pretty warm! But what’s concerning me is there’s no curlews around.

Before the West was settled, curlews weren’t nesting in alfalfa fields. They were nesting in rich, diverse native grasslands. 

An alfalfa field has a totally different species composition than a native grassland… but for the Long-billed Curlews, the function is similar. 

Is it similar enough for nesting success, though? And what happens if the alfalfa is harvested? 

To learn how this nest fared, subscribe to Threatened -- wherever you get your podcasts, or, at BirdNote.org. 

For BirdNote, I’m Monica Gokey.


                                                             ###
Senior Producer: John Kessler
Production Manager: Allison Wilson
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Editor: Ari Daniel
Producer: Monica Gokey
Field Recordings by Monica Gokey
BirdNote theme music composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler. 
© 2020 BirdNote   December 2020       Narrator: Monica Gokey

ID# LBCU-02-2020-12-01    LBCU-02
 

Monica Gokey
Writer
Monica Gokey
Narrator
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Related Resources

Audubon Field Guide: Long-billed CurlewLong-billed Curlew - More at All About Birds

More About These Birds

Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)

Numenius americanus

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Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

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