SPECIES:
Eastern Curclew (Numenius madagascariensis)
CLASSIFICATION:
Critically Endangered
Can you imagine travelling 10,000km just to feed and weighing only 1kg, if that?
The Eastern Curlew does just this, annually migrating in flocks from parts of Asia even from as far away as Russia, to Australia in winter for feeding off the coastal wetlands.
Shy by nature, they shelter around coastlines, swamps, bays and lagoons found with mudflats that provide an ideal feeding habitat. Its long curved bill and tall legs the perfect tools for fishing out worms and crustaceans from deep mud or sand. The major threat to the species is the loss of feeding habitat wetlands because of urban development, agriculture and pollution. Currently, no recovery plan is in place for this beautiful wader and indeed Australia's largest migratory bird.
Photo: By Aviceda - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41...