Bird Sightings: Whimbrel

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Bird Sightings : Hebrides : Whimbrel

Whimbrel

Numenius phaeopus

Eun-Bhealltuin, Guibneach-bheag

Photograph © Terry Fountain
MOD Range - South Uist - Outer Hebrides (Western Isles)
20th May, 2006

Whimbrel Notes

350 - 500 pairs breed in the UK

3000 birds UK passage - winters South Africa

WI rare migrant breeder, rare winter visitor, passage migrant

like a curlew (is bit smaller), In flight, shows a white 'V' shape up its back from the tail. Very distinct dark stripe eye to bill, pale mid-crown stripe

distinctive call hear it on the RSPB site

tundra, moor, heath, on passage marsh & estuary

Whimbrel are long-distance migrants, with breeding grounds in the sub-arctic zones of North Europe, North Asia and North America. 350 to 500 pairs breed in the UK, but none further South than the Grampian Mountains. We get an occasional record of a territory in the Western Isles, usually the bird seen here is on passage, and is the nominate race phaeopus which breeds from NE Greenland to Central Siberia and Winters along the W and E coast of Africa and along thecoasts of the Indian Ocean .

The bird prefers hummocky heathland and moorland as a breeding habitat. On migration it is found on wet meadows and estuaries. It usually winters on coastal habitas, saltmarshes, beaches and mudflats.

Terry Fountain's web site:
http://www.hebridesphotographic.com

Other local bird photographs

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