Eurasian Curlew
Numenius arquata
Storspoven eller den store regnspove er en spove i familien sneppefugle, der yngler i de nordligste og mellemste dele af Europa og Asien. Artens melankolske fløjten er karakteristisk fra især flyvende fugle om foråret.
Our largest : grey-brown and closely streaked on long blue-grey legs — with a very long, smoothly decurved bill. A white wedge up the back shows in flight.
Can be confused with
- Whimbrel — Whimbrel is smaller with a shorter bill kinked near the tip rather than smoothly curved, and shows bold dark crown stripes; its call is a fast tittering whistle, not the deep "cur-lee".
Plumage and variation
Male and female: Sexes alike in plumage; the female’s bill averages longest, but most birds cannot be sexed in the field.
Voice
A deep, wistful, fluting "cur-lee" — the call the bird is named for in several languages; the deep whistles carry especially on spring passage.
Behaviour
Wary and watchful, flocking outside the breeding season. Probes deep into soft ground for the worms and molluscs its long bill can reach.
When and where
Red-listed vulnerable; breeds sparsely on bogs, coastal meadows and heaths mostly in north and west Jutland plus Læsø and Saltholm — back since 1934 after being hunted out in the 1800s. Most numerous on passage; birds move away June–September.
Facts
Wingspan
97 cm
Conservation status
næsten truet
Relatives
Family
sandpipers and allies
Scolopacidae
Order
waders, gulls and auks
Charadriiformes
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