a summer visitor to northern coasts

Size
Length: 60-66 cm, Weight: 900-1,200 g
Lifespan
15-20 years
Diet
Carnivorous - feeds on crabs, molluscs, worms, and crustaceans. Probes deep into soft mud using the long, curved bill. Also takes insects and berries on breeding grounds.
Habitat
Mudflats, estuaries, mangroves, and saltmarshes. Breeds in open grasslands, marshes, and forest clearings of eastern Siberia and northern China.
Range
Breeds in eastern Siberia and northern China. Winters in Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand, a regular summer visitor to northern and eastern coasts.
Endemism
Migratory Native
Main Threats
Reclamation of tidal mudflats in the Yellow Sea, the species' critical migration stopover site. Climate change affecting breeding habitat. Hunting in some countries.
Population
Global population estimated at 30,000-40,000 birds and declining sharply. Classified as Endangered by IUCN due to habitat loss in the Yellow Sea. Classified as Nationally Critical by DOC.
Conservation Status
data_deficient
Human Risk
harmless
Handling Note
migratory wader, do not approach or disturb on feeding grounds
Conservation Note
Migratory shorebird; data insufficient for full threat classification in New Zealand context.
Te Ao Māori
Kuaka is the Māori name for the far eastern curlew, shared with the bar-tailed godwit and other migratory shorebirds. In Māori tradition, the kuaka were birds of the great migrations, their arrival in spring signalling the beginning of the harvesting season. The curlew's dramatic decline is a warning from the flyway. The birds are losing their way.
This is the eastern curlew under a different name. Same species. Same enormous curved bill. Same desperate situation. The far eastern curlew is the largest shorebird in the world, and it is running out of places to land. The bill is the headline. It curves downward, long and slender, measuring up to twenty centimetres. That is longer than the bird's head. It is a specialised tool for a specialised diet: crabs, molluscs, worms buried deep in soft mud. The bill is sensitive at the tip, feeling for prey below the surface. A far eastern curlew feeding is patient. It probes, pauses, probes again. The plumage is streaked brown and buff, well camouflaged against the mud. The legs are long and grey. In flight, the lower back is white, the underwings are barred. A big, heavy bird on the wing. It flies with deep, slow wingbeats. It crosses oceans anyway. The call is a loud, ringing "cur-lew," repeated several times. The sound carries across the mudflats. On a quiet estuary, you can hear a far eastern curlew from a kilometre away. In New Zealand, these curlews are rare but regular visitors. They arrive in spring and leave in autumn. A few hundred birds each year, scattered around the coast. They prefer the north: the Firth of Thames, Kaipara Harbour, Whangarei Harbour. The migration is epic. They breed in Siberia and northern China. They fly south along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, stopping in the Yellow Sea to refuel. Then they continue to Australia and New Zealand. A one-way trip of 15,000 kilometres. The population is crashing. The Yellow Sea mudflats, where they double their body weight before continuing south, have been reclaimed for industry and agriculture. The birds arrive. The mud is gone. They starve. Conservationists are working on the problem. Protected areas in the Yellow Sea. International agreements. The curlew keeps declining anyway. It may vanish before the solutions arrive. The far eastern curlew was once considered separate from the eastern curlew. Now they are the same. The distinction did not matter. The bird just needed somewhere to feed. In New Zealand, it is called the eastern curlew. The name varies by region. The bird does not notice. It just needs a mudflat.